Not a Luxury Hotel, the President of Belarus chooses to Stay at the State Palace

Jakarta - The President of Belarus, Alexandr Lukashenko, chose to stay at the State Palace during his state visit to Indonesia. This was revealed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Sugiono, ahead of President Prabowo Subianto's meeting with President Lukashenko in Jakarta, Thursday, July 2.

According to Sugiono, the decision to place the President of Belarus at the State Palace is a special form of respect from the Indonesian Government in the context of the reciprocal state visit carried out by Lukashenko.

Previously, President Prabowo had visited Belarus on July 15 to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. According to Sugiono, usually the head of state guests choose to stay at hotels. But this time President Lukashenko wants to stay in the Presidential Palace environment. Initially President Lukashenko was planned to stay at Wisma Negara, but President Prabowo considered the Presidential Palace more representative.

In addition to having symbolic meaning in diplomatic relations, the visit by the President of Belarus is also expected to strengthen the strategic cooperation between the two countries. Indonesia and Belarus are currently entering a new phase of more intensive bilateral relations, marked by the strengthening of cooperation in the fields of food security, energy security, agriculture, and fertilizer raw materials.

On the same occasion, Sugiono said that a business forum that brought together Indonesian and Belarusian business actors produced a potential for cooperation worth around 500 million US dollars. According to him, the trade and investment figures between the two countries still have a large room to continue to be improved.

The Indonesian government hopes that President Lukashenko's state visit can be an opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations and open up opportunities for wider economic cooperation between Indonesia and Belarus in the future.