Visiting Jokowi At The Bogor Palace, Palestinian Prime Minister Disambut 19 Kali Denuman Meriam

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) received a state visit from the Palestinian Prime Minister (PM) Mohammad IM Shtayyeh at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, Monday, October 24.

The Palestinian PM arrived at the Bogor Palace at around 10.30 WIB accompanied by Nusantara troops, equestrian troops, and the music corps of the Presidential Security Forces (Paspampres).

After being received directly by President Jokowi, the procession was continued with an official welcoming ceremony with the listening of the national anthem of the two countries and accompanied by a cannon boom of 19 times.

After the cannon boom was completed, the two leaders then conducted an inspection of the honorary forces.

Jokowi and Shtayyeh then introduced each delegation who was also present at the ceremony.

Based on the Antara report, the delegation from Indonesia consisted of Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan, Head of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) Penny K. Lukito, and Director General of Asia Pacific and Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdul Qadir Jaelani.

After introducing each other's delegates, Jokowi then invited Shtayyeh to take a photo together and sign a state guest book in the Lotus Room, Bogor Palace.

The series of events continued with planting with the Meranti Bunga tree or Shorea Leprosula by Jokowi and Shtayyeh in the side yard of the Bogor Presidential Palace. After planting trees together, the two country leaders headed home to chat for a moment before holding a bilateral meeting with delegates from each other.

Furthermore, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and gave a joint press statement in the Lotus Room. The series of official welcomings ended with a state lunch banquet in the Garuda Room.

Palestine is the only participating country of the 1955 Asia-African Conference (KAA) which has yet to be independent due to Israeli occupation. Bilaterally, Palestine continues to seek to garner recognition from various countries. As of September 14, 2015, 136 countries from 193 UN members have recognized Palestine as a country.

The international community to date continues to encourage the realization of a peaceful solution between Palestine and Israel, which is based primarily on the two-state solution principle, as mandated in various resolutions of the UN General Assembly (MU) and Security Council (DK).

However, the challenges have increasingly hampered the journey of the peace process between the two, such as the United States' decision on December 6, 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and followed by the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018.

Indonesia has consistently voiced the rights of the Palestinian people, including encouraging the establishment of a Palestinian state under the principles of a two-state solution, including in the holding of the 60th Commemoration of the KAA Year in April 2015.

During the commemoration, the Declaration on Palestine agreed to underline the support of Asian and African countries for the Palestinian people's struggle for independence and efforts to create a two-state solution.

Indonesia also provides assistance in the form of training and capacity development for 1,257 Palestinians in the fields of infrastructure, technology, information, tourism, light manufacturing, and agriculture worth 1.5 million US dollars for Palestinians under the framework of the Conference on Cooperation Among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development (CEAPAD) and assistance of IDR 20 billion for the construction of the Indonesian Cardiac Center at the As-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.