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resident Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo left the country on Saturday to kick off his seven-day trip to Japan and China in an effort to boost Indonesia'€™s economic cooperation with the two Asian economic giants.

Accompanied by Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, Jokowi is set to arrive in Tokyo on Sunday where he will stay until March 25, when he leaves for Beijing. Jokowi is expected to wrap up his China visit on March 27 and will arrive back in Jakarta on March 28.

'€œThe main goal of the visits will be to improve Indonesia'€™s cooperation with Japan and China, particularly in the economic sector,'€ Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Arrmanatha said Jokowi'€™s visit would bring focus to Indonesia'€™s position as an important partner for Japan and China, particularly in terms of trade and economic ties.

Other than having bilateral meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Jokowi is expected to attend business forums in Japan and China.

Jokowi said on Friday that he expected his planned visit would lead to concrete trade and investment cooperation with Japan, with resulting capital inflows to Indonesia, particularly in areas related to infrastructure, seaports, airports, power plants, railways and toll roads.

'€œBut, [only] for those areas; I don'€™t want things that are not real,'€ Jokowi said in Yogyakarta on Friday.

Japan has been a long-time major foreign investor in Southeast Asia'€™s biggest economy, investing US$2 billion of the total $21.7 billion foreign direct investment in Indonesia from January to September last year. Japan ranked as the second-biggest investor after Singapore.

However, Indonesia has yet to reap maximum benefits from the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJ-EPA) since its was implemented in 2008, as a result of, among other factors, a lack of product diversification, according to research by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in 2013.

Data from the Trade Ministry shows that Indonesia'€™s imports from Japan have outperformed its exports, with imports climbing 17.81 percent to $ 19.25 billion in 2013 from 2009, in contrast to exports, which rose only 9.3 percent to $27.09 billion.

Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel has said that during his visit to Japan in January, Japan gave a nod to Indonesia'€™s proposal to review the agreement to further boost bilateral economic relations.

Japan'€™s Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed its intention to step up economic cooperation with Jakarta during its delegation'€™s visit to Jokowi at the State Palace in February.

In the course of Jokowi'€™s visit to Tokyo, the two countries are also expected sign an agreement on increasing cooperation in military training and technology, Reuters has reported.

Currently, the two countries only have an agreement on the exchange of military students.

Although it would be a non-binding agreement, below the status of a memorandum of understanding, Reuters reported, it would be seen as the first step in bolstering defense ties in Tokyo'€™s latest effort to forge closer security cooperation with Southeast Asian nations and to build a counter-balance to China.

The Japanese foreign ministry has said Jokowi'€™s trip sends a '€œbig message'€ as this will be his first state visit outside Southeast Asia.

Japan has already forged partnerships with two countries at odds with China over South China Sea territorial disputes '€” the Philippines and Vietnam.

Japan is supplying maritime patrol boats to Vietnam and the Philippines and will also hold its first naval exercises with the Philippines in the coming months.

Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, has been a self-appointed broker in the myriad of territorial disputes between its neighbors and China in the South China Sea.

Tokyo has no territorial claims in the South China Sea, but worries about becoming isolated should China dominate a waterway through which much of Japan'€™s ship-borne trade passes.

The cooperation is also in line with a more muscular security policy advocated by Abe, who wants to loosen the restraints of Japan'€™s pacifist post-war constitution, and dovetails with Washington'€™s '€œrebalance'€ toward Asia.

'€œSeveral agreements are expected [to be signed], including those related to trade, investment and defense cooperation,'€ the Foreign Ministry'€™s Arrmanatha said as quoted by Antara.

Meanwhile, Indonesia and China have a more developed military relationship and Jakarta has already bought Chinese-made missiles and other military hardware.