JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo received the arrival of the Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi at the Merdeka Palace.
During his meeting, Jokowi welcomed the launch of the Indonesia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IUAE-CEPA) negotiations, which have been carried out by the two countries.
Through a press statement from the Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, Jokowi hopes that the IUAE-CEPA can increase the value of trade between the two countries. Currently, the trade figure has only reached 2.9 billion US dollars.
"So far, trade between Indonesia and the UAE can still be increased even more. With CEPA later, the President hopes that trade can be increased at least 2-3 times," Retno said in a Youtube video broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat, Friday, September 3.
Not only that, Retno said that Jokowi wanted the UAE-CEPA to also increase investment, especially in the fields of infrastructure, health security, and a green and sustainable economy.
"We hope that the UAE will become the main partner for investment in Indonesia. Two other areas besides infrastructure problems are expected by the President for investment from the UAE, namely, in the field of health security and the second in the field of a green and sustainable economy," said Retno.
In the implementation of the IUAE-CEPA trade negotiations, Jokowi asked for it to be done quickly. This is because this provides strategic value and reflects the commitment of the two countries to increase trade in the context of post-pandemic economic recovery.
"The President hopes that these negotiations can be completed in less than a year. So, in the next few months, the results of the negotiations will achieve significant progress," he explained.
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