VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi held a bilateral meeting with Papua New Guinea Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Rimbink Pato on Thursday, July 19th, 2018 at Pancasila Building, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of RI, Jakarta. On the occasion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Rimbink Pato stated that any statement in the name of Papua New Guinea which contains support for Papuan independence is not from the Papua New Guinea government. He asserted that the Province of West Papua and Papua is the sovereign territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.

“And of course on the issue of the respect for the sovereignty and integrity of both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is the present policy, and previous policy, and future policy is that the province of Papua and West Papua remind that there are part of the Republic of Indonesia. So, any intepretation, any statement, whatever that anyone has raid. Anyway changes PNG policy and the policy of the future. There is, we will walk with Indonesia to address issue of the development along the border in close cooperation and consultation under the various agreement,” Rimbink Pato said.

Papua New Guinea is one of the Pacific countries that affirmed West Papua as the territory of Indonesian sovereignty. As is known, many countries in the Pacific region expressed support for separatist groups that support the independence of West Papua. However, recently a spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Arrmanatha Nasir stated that many neighboring countries have appreciated the progress of the Government of Indonesia under the leadership of President Joko Widodo in addressing human rights issues and development inequality in Papua. (VOI/Rezha/AHM)

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi held a bilateral meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade II of Brunei Darussalam, Erywan Yusof at Pancasila Building, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta, Friday, July 20th, 2018. The meeting was held in the 4th Joint Committe Bilateral Cooperation for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) corridor. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi discussed several regional issues in Southeast Asia, including the preparation of ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting / Post Ministerial Conferences (AMM / PMC) which will be held in Singapore in the near future. At the meeting the two Foreign Ministers also mambahas Indonesia Indo Pacific concept which in April became one of the discussion at the ASEAN Summit.

“For regional and international issues, we talked about the preparation of AMM / PMC meeting which will be held in Singapore at the end of this month and early next month. Indonesia highly appreciates Brunei Darussalam's support for the Indonesian paper concept on Indo Pacific which puts great emphasis on ASEAN centrality,” Retno Marsudi said.

The concept of Indo-Pacific is a geopolitical cooperation that connects between two oceans namely the Indian and Pacific Oceans where the point is in Indonesia. This makes Indonesia and ASEAN as a region region become the main players in this geopolitical cooperation. On the same occasion, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi also again conveyed his appreciation to Brunei Darussalam which has provided support to Indonesia to step forward as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2019-2020 period representing the Asia and Pacific region. In addition, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi also invited Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah to attend the ASEAN Leaders Gathering Meeting which will be held in Bali, in October. (VOI / Rezha/RHM)

IndonesianForeign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi held a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah at Gedung Pancasila, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta, on Monday (23/7). It was the first bilateral meeting between Saifuddin Abdullah and Marsudi after he officially inaugurated as Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister on July 2, 2018. The settlement of border areas between Indonesia and Malaysia becomes one of the issues discussed in the bilateral meeting. Through a press statement with Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abullah, Retno Marsudi said that Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to prioritize the settlement of border issues through the negotiation technical team which has been previously established.

“By sharing land and sea boundaries, the issue of state boundary resolution has always been a priority. Therefore, negotiations must be intensified so that the issues can be solved. Indonesian President also delivered a message this morning about the importance of solving the border issues. We agree to provide full mandate to the technical team, to intensify the negotiations,” Retno Marsudi said.

Before holding the bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Minister Saifuddin Abdullah firstly met with President Joko Widodo at Bogor Palace, in Bogor, West Java. At the meeting President Joko Widodo conveyed several priority issues between the two countries that must be resolved, including the border issues. Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah's visit to Indonesia lasted from July 20 – 23, 2018. Besides holding bilateral meetings with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and President Joko Widodo, the Malaysian Foreign Minister also held a meeting with former President of Indonesia, BJ Habibie and Chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR-RI). Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abudllah is also scheduled to attend a scientific discussion held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta. (VOI/Rezha/Trs.N/DP)

To improve the economic community in the border region, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea –PNG agreed to increase interaction between businesspeople of both countries. One of these efforts to be realized is through the visit of Indonesian business delegation to PNG next September. In addition, Indonesia also invited businesspeople in PNG to attend the International Trade Exhibition (ICE) at BSD, South Tangerang, Banten.

“We welcome significant increase in bilateral trade from $179, 2 million dollars in 2016 to $208,89 million dollars in 2017. We enjoyed an increase of 17 percent in our bilateral trade. I mentioned to Minister Pato that a business delegation from Indonesia will make a visit in September 2018. Indonesia also invites PNG business community to attend Indonesia Trade Expo in October 2018,”said Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi in a press statement with Papua New Guinea Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Rimbink Pato at Gedung Pancasila of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jakarta on Thursday, (July 19th, 2018).

In addition to inviting Papua New Guinea businesspeople to come to Indonesia, on the occasion, Minister Retno Marsudi also returned an invitation to Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato to attend the ‘Our Ocean Conference’ which will be held at the end of October and the Bali Democratic Forum; both of which will be held in Bali. So far, with regard to economic cooperation between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, there have been some sectors of cooperation, such as food and beverages between PNG and Indonesia. In addition, there are also exports of household appliances, soaps, and electronics. (VOI/Rezha/AHM)