Jokowi Meets Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Affirms Equal Access To Vaccine For COVID-19, Touches Investment

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo held a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, after attending the ASEAN Leaders' Meeting in Jakarta.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, through a virtual statement, said that Jokowi's meeting with Hun Sen was held in the multipurpose room of the ASEAN Secretariat building, Jakarta.

Retno said the two leaders exchanged ideas on how to improve bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

There were four issues raised by Jokowi at the meeting.

"First, regarding health cooperation. The President emphasized the importance of multilateral vaccine support for equal access to vaccines for all countries. The President also invited Cambodia to strengthen cooperation in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medicines, and medical equipment", said Retno, quoted by Antara, Saturday, April 24th.

Retno said, the launch of the Dynamic Argon Co Ltd joint venture, which was the result of collaboration between a pharmaceutical company in Indonesia and its partner in Cambodia in 2019, was a good start for health cooperation between the two countries.

Therefore, Jokowi asked for Hun Sen's support for the expansion of Indonesian state-owned and private investment in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment sector in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, the second issue that the two discussed was economic cooperation for economic recovery. Jokowi, at the meeting, encouraged efforts to increase the volume of trade between the two countries, among others, by having a direct delivery route between the two countries in which Pelindo II was already exploring the plan.

"Regarding investment, the President of the Republic of Indonesia asks for support so that state-owned companies and private Indonesians can become major development partners and investment in Cambodia, including for the railway system and meeting the needs of train cars, construction of floating power plants, the need for tugboats, and infrastructure projects in Cambodia by BUMN (State-Owned Corporation) construction in Indonesia", said Marsudi.

The two-state leaders also discussed defense cooperation in which Jokowi was of the view that cooperation in this field still needs to be improved. Some of them are through expanding cooperation between Army to Army talks and encouraging increased education and training with military personnel of the two countries.

Finally, Jokowi conveyed the need for synergy between Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand in which in 2022 the three Southeast Asian countries will become chairmen of several organizations. Indonesia is the chair of the G-20, Cambodia is the chair of ASEAN, and Thailand is the chair of APEC.

"The President of the Republic of Indonesia hopes that there will be coordination and synergy between the three countries, all of which are ASEAN member countries, both in terms of implementation time and substance", he said.

Accompanying Jokowi in the bilateral meeting included the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, Marsudi, and the Cabinet Secretary, Pramono Anung.