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resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received on Thursday afternoon letters of credence from 13 new envoys, including that of the United States and the European Union, in a ceremony at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.

Of the 13 new envoys, seven are based in Jakarta and the remaining will in be Canberra, Seoul, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

The seven resident ambassadors are Robert Orris Blake Jr. of the US, Olof Skoog of the EU, Valerica Epure of Romania, Tadeusz Andrzej Szumowski of Poland, Pakamisa Augustine Sifuba of South Africa, Sayyid Nazar bin Al-Julandi bin Majid Al-Said of Oman and Anna Aghadjanian of Armenia.

The six non-resident envoys are Milan Balazic of Slovenia, who is based in Canberra; Dibaba Abdetta of Ethiopia, based in Seoul; Ali Illiassou of Niger, based in New Delhi; Zanele Angeline Mdluli of Swaziland, based in Kuala Lumpur; Mahmoud M. Aboud of Comoros, based in Beijing; and Premdut Doongoor of Mauritius, based in Kuala Lumpur.

'€œI am sure you agree to expanding and strengthening our cooperation. A lot of opportunities for cooperation, I believe, can be created,'€ said the President during a meeting with the envoys after the ceremony. '€œBy having good cooperation, Indonesia, as well as your countries, will advance in the future.'€

Yudhoyono was accompanied at the ceremony by a number of officials, including Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and State Secretary Sudi Silalahi.

Prior to assuming his current position, US Ambassador Blake, who is a career foreign service officer, was assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs. He also served as ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives from 2006 to 2009.

At his nomination hearing, Blake said he would '€œseek to further the work of his predecessors to increase people-to-people linkages among citizens of the two countries through educational and professional exchanges and public-private partnerships to create a long-term foundation for mutual understanding and collaboration'€.

Blake'€™s appointment comes at a crucial time when the US is rebalancing its strategic posture toward Asia and his biggest task will be to build a strong economic partnership between the two countries in line with the 2010 US-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership.

Based on Indonesian statistics, the US is currently Indonesia'€™s fifth-largest trading partner after Japan, China, Singapore and South Korea. Bilateral trade in 2012 was US$26.47 billion, slightly down from $27.27 billion in 2011. In the first four months of this year, two-way trade stood at $7.98 billion.

EU Ambassador Skoog was previously Sweden'€™s ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela.

During last year'€™s EU-Indonesia Business Dialogue in Jakarta, Skoog, who is also the EU ambassador to ASEAN, said a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) was important to help enhance trade relations and market access for Southeast Asia'€™s largest economy and the EU.

Indonesia and the EU began talks on preparations for CEPA in early 2012. Bilateral trade between Indonesia and the EU reached ¤25 billion in 2012, with Indonesia pocketing a surplus of ¤5.7 billion, according to EU statistics.