Meeting The British Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi Conveyed Her Concerns About Palm Oil To Rubber

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi delivers a press statement with British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab.

JAKARTA - Indonesia and Britain agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of health, economic recovery and defense and security.

This is carried out in line with the improvement of Indonesia's cooperation with the UK, in which Britain is Indonesia's second largest investor, as well as the fifth largest trading partner from Europe.

This was said by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, when giving a virtual statement to journalists with British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, Wednesday, April 7.

On this occasion, Foreign Minister Retno revealed that there would be a signing of a Joint Economic and Trade Committee cooperation between Indonesia and the UK on April 19.

This step is expected to support an increase in the trade rate between Indonesia and the UK. Last year, the trade between the two countries reached US $ 2.24 billion.

In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020, Foreign Minister Retno revealed that the value of British investment in Indonesia had increased by 35 percent.

"We agreed to work together to promote 10 priority sectors including timber and agricultural commodities," said Foreign Minister Retno.

Foreign Minister Retno further explained that he re-emphasized his concern over the proposed UK national legislation, which requires due diligence on agricultural commodities, such as palm oil, cocoa and rubber.

"I hope that the two countries can work together to overcome these problems, including through the cooperation of agricultural commodity working groups," he said.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said he appreciated the bilateral cooperation between the two countries which had been established based on shared values.

"Apart from increasing trade cooperation, investment in key sectors, education, defense to renewable energy and wood products. I also hope that the joint working group can find solutions related to the issue of palm oil and other agricultural commodities," said Raab.