Airlangga Meets With Japan's Ruling Party, Agrees On Golkar-LDP Youth Exchange

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto took the time to meet political figures on the sidelines of a working visit to Japan earlier this week/DOK IST

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto took the time to meet political figures on the sidelines of a working visit to Japan earlier this week.

The chairman of the Golkar Party met with a number of top leaders of the Japanese ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), such as LDP President Fumio Kishida, LDP spokesman Taro Kono, and a member of the Japanese House of Representatives who is also LDP Chairperson Tatsuo Fukuda.

Fumio Kishida is the Chairman of the LDP as well as the current Prime Minister of Japan.

He replaced Yoshihide Suga. Kishida was elected as the supreme leader of the LDP after surpassing Taro Kono. The meeting between Airlangga and Fumio Kishida discussed the relationship between the LDP and the Golkar Party.

So far, Golkar has a special affinity with the LDP, a party that has been ruled by the families of Japan's leading politicians for generations. Post-Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga, the LDP continued to lead the Japanese government through Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Both the LDP and Golkar are currently in their respective governments.

Meanwhile, the meeting between Airlangga and Tatsuo Fukuda was intimate. Besides being a good friendship between the two of them personally, intimacy is also influenced by party factors and intergovernmental relations.

During the meeting, Airlangga said that there was an agreement between Golkar and LDP for youth exchange cooperation. This cooperation will be followed up through the Golkar Institute.

"We also discussed various issues related to global geopolitical issues and the Indo Pacific," said Airlangga in a statement, Friday (29/7/2022).

In this meeting, Fukuda was accompanied by his two main assistants, Arata Takebe and Shimono Rokuta, from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto took the time to meet political figures on the sidelines of a working visit to Japan earlier this week/DOK IST

In addition to meeting with Kishida, Airlangga also met with Taro Kono, one of the LDP's senior figures who had held three ministerial positions and was a PM candidate. Kono has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defence, and finally Minister of Vaccine Affairs.

Kono is believed to be leading the government as a replacement for Yoshihide Suga who resigned. Although in the end he had to admit Fumio Kishida's superiority in the LDP Presidential election in September 2021. Many things were discussed in the meeting with Kono, who is also trusted as LDP spokesman.

In an hour-long meeting with LDP officials, Airlangga admitted that many things were discussed.

"The meeting was also to discuss from a political perspective related to policies that will favor investment and trade between Japan and Indonesia, related to various bilateral and multilateral cooperation schemes, both regarding IJEPA, RCEP, and IPEF as well as the very good moment of the Chair of Indonesia together with 50 The Year of the ASEAN-Japan Friendship will be in 2023," said the Chairman of Golkar.