President Jokowi Meets Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, What Was Discussed?

President Jokowi (left) met with PM Fumio Kishida. (Photo via Antara)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) held a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday, May 20. There were several things that the two discussed at the Grand Prince Hotel, Hiroshima, Japan, were.

This meeting began with a thank you from President Jokowi for an invitation from the Japanese Government to Indonesia to attend the G7 Summit in Hiroshima.

"Your Excellency, thank you for the invitation to the G7 Summit. Japan is an important and strategic partner of Indonesia. I agree to increase our partnership to be wider and concrete," said Jokowi.

The two then discussed the improvement of a number of RI-Japan partnerships During the meeting, President Jokowi also briefly pushed for the acceleration of the completion of negotiations on the Indonesia-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA).

President Jokowi even targets the negotiations to be completed in September 2023.

"Because this has been going on for a long time," said Jokowi, who then mentioned several proposals for points to be covered by IJEPA such as the abolition of canned tuna product rates, the expansion of the work of Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) in the tourism and industrial sectors, as well as the implementation of capacity building.

President Jokowi had reminded PM Kishida that Indonesia had provided flexibility for agricultural products from Fukushima so that the President asked Japan to apply the same thing for Indonesian fruit products.

"I ask for Japanese flexibility regarding the expansion of access to Indonesian tropical fruit, including mangoes," said Jokowi, as quoted by Antara.

President Jokowi briefly mentioned investment, including the need to accelerate the completion of the Integrated Moda Raya Development Project (MRT) in Indonesia while proposing for direct appointment of Japanese contractors.

"Regarding the development of IKN (National Capital of the Archipelago, ed.), I welcome the signing of five memorandums of understanding with JICA, JBIC, JCODE, JIBH, and UR," said Jokowi.

The two leaders had discussed the energy transition where President Jokowi emphasized that Indonesia was pushing for the acceleration of the realization of Japan's commitment of 500 million US dollars.

This commitment includes low-carbon technology and acceleration of the termination of steam power plants (PLTU) as well as the implementation of business agreements between PLN, Pupuk Indonesia, Pertamina, and Japanese partners as an effort to achieve net zero emissions.

President Jokowi also asked for Japanese support to deliver humanitarian aid in Myanmar through the AHA Center.

Closing a bilateral meeting with PM Kishida, the President encouraged the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) through Japan's participation in the ASEAN Indo-Pacific Infrastructure Forum which is scheduled to take place 6-7 September 2023 in Jakarta.

Also accompanying the President in the bilateral meeting of the Republic of Indonesia-Japan were Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi.

Also present were SOE Minister Erick Thohir, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Head of the Archipelago Capital Authority Bambang Susantono, Indonesian Ambassador to Japan Heri Akhmadi, and Director of East Asia of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Santo Darmosumarto.