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Indonesia must take advantage of partnerships with Saudi Arabia: Analyst
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Warm welcome: House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto (second from right) and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (left) wave at the audience ahead of a plenary meeting at the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on March 2. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
Indonesia and Saudi Arabia have signed 11 memorandums of understanding in various fields.
The success of these partnerships will depend on the ministries assigned to implement them, an analyst has said.
“We don’t know [how big the effects of the partnerships will be]. It depends on the ministries,” University of Indonesia international relations expert Evi Fitriani said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Thursday.
“I think there’s nothing wrong with Saudi Arabia’s investment plans in Indonesia as long as they can be used to create employment, transfer technology and develop infrastructure,” Evi said.
She further said relations between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia were actually quite close, especially in the field of culture and religion because Indonesia was a Muslim-majority country.
It would be better if the relationship between the two countries could be improved in other sectors, such as trade and the protection of Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, she added.
(Read also: King Salman arrives in Jakarta)
Evi said Indonesia should try to benefit as much as possible from the partnership.
“They [Saudi Arabia] need a revitalization because economic development now mainly occurs in Asia and Southeast Asia. Saudi Arabia is relatively open now because the country worries that if they stay exclusive, the Arab Spring could happen again.”
Earlier, President Joko Widodo called on several ministers to immediately follow up on the agreements signed during King Salman’s visit.
“The two leaders agreed to immediately follow up on all signed agreements by deploying their ministers,” Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Wednesday.(ebf)
