JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has encouraged the discussion of Indonesia's preferential trade agreement with Papua New Guinea (PNG) so that economic cooperation between the two countries will grow and develop.

"PNG and Indonesia are economic giants, respectively. PNG in the Pacific and Indonesia in Southeast Asia. You can imagine if these two potentials merge, it will certainly have a very big impact," said President Jokowi while attending the meeting of the first business forum between Indonesia and PNG at APEC Haus, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, July 5.

Jokowi said that if the potential for economic cooperation between Indonesia and PNG continues to be developed, it will provide benefits to the region.

Jokowi also said that Indonesia will support the PNG Connect Program, among which, with the cooperation of Indonesian state-owned construction companies that have experience in several countries. The President said that infrastructure and connectivity are the main requirements for sustainable economic growth.

"We also continue to develop connectivity by opening the PNG Express shipping route and opening Denpasar - Port Moresby flights," said Jokowi.

During the meeting, Jokowi also said that Indonesia and PNG had considerable economic potential with the border length of the two countries reaching more than 800 kilometers.

"We need to maximize this. We need to make border points the center of new economic activities. This will greatly impact not only the border community, but also the economy of the two countries," said Jokowi.

Jokowi believes that the closeness of Indonesia and PNG will be stronger with concrete economic cooperation.

On that occasion, President Jokowi also witnessed the symbolic handover of a miniature of Citilink aircraft to representatives of business forum participants as a sign of the launch of Citilink's inaugural flight on the Denpasar - Port Moresby route.


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