VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo left for South Korea on Sunday, September 9, 2018. His visit to Seoul is the reciprocal one of South Korean President Moon Jae-In to Indonesia in 2017. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi remarked that the visit of President Joko Widodo aims to strengthen economic cooperation, especially in facing the current and future global economic situation. While in Seoul, President Joko Widodo is to hold a bilateral meeting with South Korean President, Moon Jae-In, and attend the Indonesia-South Korea Business Forum and one-on-one business meeting. In addition, the governments of the two countries will sign a number of memorandums of understanding in the fields of legislation, cooperation in immigration, economy, human resources, maritime security, and the environment and forestry. South Korea is one of the top 10 countries that invest in Indonesia, such as the investment of the Korean steel giant company, Posco which has established a partnership with PT Krakatau Steel to build a large steel smelter in Cilegon, Banten. Besides, the Korean retail store network, Lotte has also been operating in Indonesia for a long time. Trade between the two countries also increased significantly, reaching almost 12 percent. The potential is quite large. In 2017, the value of trade between Indonesia and Korea reached $16.3 billion dollars. In addition to strengthening cooperation in the economic sector, President Joko Widodo's visit to South Korea this time is also to commemorate the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and South Korea. In addition to bilateral relations, cooperation between Indonesia and South Korea has been also established in various international forums. One of them is the MIKTA forum -Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia, which has seven main areas of cooperation, namely fighting terrorism, trade and economy, energy, sustainable development, gender equality, peacekeeping operations, good governance and democracy. President Joko Widodo's visit to South Korea this time will also be used to provide support for the two Koreas’ peace and strengthen Indonesia's support for the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. So, it is hoped that the peace of two Koreas will be realized immediately. Hopefully, President Joko Widodo's visit to South Korea brings about positive impact and strengthens better relations between the two countries, especially in the economic, political, security and socio-cultural fields.