Received US Foreign Minister's Visit, Foreign Minister Retno: Concrete Cooperation Contributes To Stability And Peace

US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. (Source: Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that the mutually beneficial and respectful cooperation between Indonesia and the United States contributed to achieving stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific region.

This was disclosed by Foreign Minister Retno when receiving a visit from the United States Minister of Foreign Affairs Antony Blinken at his office, Jakarta, Tuesday, December 14. Meeting for the second time this year, Foreign Minister Retno underlined the strategic value of cooperation between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Retno said, this value increases with the Indonesian Presidency at the G-20 and Indonesia's position as the coordinator of the ASEAN-US Dialogue, the intensity of communication between the two countries will increase.

"The US is Indonesia's strategic partner. We are committed to continuing to strengthen concrete cooperation that is mutually beneficial and mutually respectful. With the many shared values shared by the two countries, it is believed that concrete strategic partnership cooperation will continue to strengthen," said Foreign Minister Retno in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tuesday 14 December.

The signing of the MoU between Foreign Minister Blinken and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. (Source: Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

On the occasion of this meeting, a number of cooperations between the two countries were also signed, such as the extension of the MoU on Maritime Cooperation which will be valid until 2026. The MoU includes, among others, cooperation in maritime security, marine resources, fisheries conservation and management, as well as maritime safety and navigation.

Then, related to the commitment to increase education cooperation and people-to-people contact, the two ministers also signed the Education MoU and the renewal of the Peace Corps MoU.

In addition, Foreign Minister Retno and Foreign Minister Blinken also agreed to establish a 2+2 dialogue mechanism between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense at the Senior Official level.

"We also have a strong commitment to continue to increase trade and investment cooperation. The trade figure from January to October 2021 reached 29.6 billion US dollars, an increase of 33.9 percent compared to the same period last year," said Foreign Minister Retno.

"Investment opportunities in Indonesia are very wide open, both in the fields of health, digital and energy transition," he said.

While in the development sector, Indonesia appreciates the US commitment in the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact-2 for sustainable development projects in Indonesia, namely green economy development, digitalization, access to funding as well as gender equality and funding for women's MSMEs.

"I also appreciate the US support for Indonesia during the pandemic. There have been 25.4 million doses of vaccine that the US has supported for Indonesia through the Covax Facility, including the addition of 7 million doses that just arrived yesterday. For the long term, Indonesia hopes that the two countries can develop cooperation in vaccine development mRNA technology," he concluded.