VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia and Suriname agreed to strengthen economic cooperation. This statement was conveyed by the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno L.P. Marsudi after a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Suriname, Yldiz Deborah Pollack-Beighle, in Paramaribo, Suriname (20/05).

The visit of the Indonesian Foreign Minister to Suriname, was the first full-fledge visit of the Indonesian Foreign Minister to Suriname in the last 26 years. During the visit the Indonesian Foreign Minister also had the opportunity to pay a courtesy visit to the President of Suriname, Desire Delano Bouterse.

Indonesia has special historical and cultural relations with Suriname. The Javanese ethnic group and language are one of the ethnic groups and languages ​​that live in Suriname.

"With the provision and special historical and cultural relations, it is very natural for Indonesia and Suriname to strengthen bilateral relations in various fields, especially economics and development," said Foreign Minister Retno.

Some areas of economic cooperation that are encouraged to be strengthened include infrastructure development, mining, energy, development of Sharia banking, and livestock, especially artificial insemination.

"Indonesia expressed its interest in participating in infrastructure development projects in Suriname, including projects that were funded by the Islamic Development Bank," explained Foreign Minister Retno.

In an effort to take advantage of the various opportunities available, the Indonesian business delegation also made a visit to Suriname in March 2019. Several areas of cooperation that received the attention of Indonesian business delegates included gold mining, urban development, solar panel construction for housing.

Indonesia also affirms its commitment to help Suriname in developing Sharia banking. Bank Indonesia has sent a team to Suriname to provide training in regulation and supervision of Islamic banking.

"Cooperation in the field of Islamic banking is one of the potential for cooperation, in this context, Bank Mandiri Syariah has supported efforts to increase capacity in the field of risk management and sharia accounting," said Foreign Minister Retno.

In the field of livestocks, Indonesia has also expressed its commitment to collaborate with artificial livestock insemination in the framework of cooperation between South-South Triagular Cooperation, through Reverse Linkage from the Islamic Development Bank. The draft Technical Agreement is planned to be signed in the first half of 2019.

In addition to the economy, one of the areas that has also become a concern for cooperation between Indonesia and Suriname is the development of the Suriname Diplomatic Training Center. The MoU on diplomatic education and training cooperation was signed in December 2018. In March 2019, Indonesia has sent a team to provide Indonesia's experience in the development of diplomatic education and training.

During the visit, an agreement on a short-term visa-free visit for ordinary passport holders has been signed. This agreement is the only one that includes holders of diplomatic, official, and ordinary passports in an agreement. It is hoped that the visit visa-free agreement and the close relationship between this particular history and culture will become the basis for further strengthening people-to-people contact between the two countries. (source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs)