Russia-Indonesia Trade Increases 65 Percent In The Last Five Months, President Putin Awaits Indonesia's Free Trade Zone - Eurasian Economic Union

President Jokowi with President Putin at the Kremlin, Moscow. (Source: Kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes the growth of bilateral trade and cooperation with Indonesia, hoping to increase it in the future, in a joint press statement with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) at the Kremlin, Thursday.

President Jokowi is known to be in Russia to continue the peace mission by meeting President Putin, discussing various matters including the war situation in Ukraine, after previously meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

"Naturally, special attention is paid to trade and economic cooperation, which shows good dynamics. In 2021, for example, bilateral trade increased by more than 40 percent, and in the first five months of this year, the increase was more than 65 percent," he said. President Putin, quoted from Kremlin.ru July 1.

In this context, President Putin continued, both parties expressed their interest in enhancing the work of the Russian-Indonesian Joint Commission for Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation.

"Additional opportunities to build mutually beneficial economic partnerships, enhance commercial exchanges between our countries. All this opens up new opportunities.

"We also attach great importance to the creation of a free trade zone between Indonesia and the Eurasian Economic Union. We hope that negotiations on the related draft agreement will be carried out by the end of the year and bear fruit," President Putin hoped.

In addition to the economy, attention is paid to significant areas of cooperation such as human exchange, culture, tourism and education. In addition, President Putin also mentioned the expansion of cooperation in the field of expanding dialogue between regions and between religions, taking into account the fact that Indonesia is the largest Islamic country in the world in terms of population.

It is known that President Jokowi arrived in Russia, Thursday, June 30, 2022, aboard the Garuda Indonesia GIA-1 aircraft which landed at Vnukovo II Airport at around 11.00 a.m. local time. The day before, Jokowi had just met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Maryinsky Palace, Kyiv.

After meeting President Putin, President Jokowi's entourage departed for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from Vnukovo II Airport, Moscow, Russia using the Garuda Indonesia GIA-1 aircraft.