I

ndonesia has conveyed its commitment to offer assistance to least-developed African and Asian countries to help them attain higher economic development.

The commitment was conveyed after Vice President Jusuf Kalla held three bilateral meetings with Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai, Vanuatu Foreign Minister Sato Kilman and Zambia'€™s first female Vice President, Inonge Wina, on the sidelines of the Asian-African Conference on Tuesday.

Indonesia has been campaigning for the need of the conference to pull efforts to provide more fair world governance.

'€œLiberia, Vanuatu and Zambia perceive Indonesia as a very important partner. They want our assistance,'€ Kalla said after the meetings. '€œIndonesia should be ready to help smaller countries. This is the time for us to answer those challenges.'€

The conference, Kalla added, aimed to provide answers to such calls.

According to Kalla, the three countries are hoping Indonesian businesses decide to invest there and eventually help them boost their competitiveness.

'€œWe will offer training on lumber skills to Liberian people,'€ Kalla said, adding that the meeting also discussed possible opportunities for bigger Indonesian investment in the growing palm oil industry in Liberia.

Vanuatu'€™s foreign minister, Kilman, said he and Kalla were involved in '€œfruitful discussion'€ on possible further cooperation in several different areas.

'€œI think discussion like this is important between Indonesia and other countries, not only those in the Pacific, but globally as well,'€ Kilman said, adding that he looked forward to following up on the cooperation.

A plan to establish a Vanuatu representative office in Jakarta was also on the table, Kalla said.

'€œWe have also expressed sympathy for the tropical cyclone [that recently hit Vanuatu]. They thanked us for our humanitarian aid worth US$2 million,'€ Kalla added.

Zambia, Kalla said, had requested Indonesia to send a fisheries expert there as the country hoped to learn from Indonesia, which has provided given assistance for several projects in Zambia, particularly a training project on agriculture.

'€œWe have been sending agriculture experts for 10 years. The center of agriculture training is still running,'€ Kalla said, adding that there was a possibility of providing scholarships for Zambian people.

According to Kalla, there are also 500 Indonesian mining specialists working in Zambia.

Other than expressing a commitment to boosting bilateral trade, Indonesia also offered Cambodia to buy weapons and military attire from Indonesia while the prime minister expressed appreciation to Indonesia for training almost 6,000 military personnel.

'€œI offered Cambodia to buy uniforms and weapons from Indonesia,'€ President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo said after his bilateral meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.