V

ietnam’s Communist Party secretary-general, Nguyen Phu Throng, is visiting Indonesia from Aug. 22 to 24 to give new shape to the more than six decades of close friendship between the two countries.

In the first-ever visit of a Vietnamese ruling party chief, Nguyen, Vietnam’s most powerful figure, will meet President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, several ministers, businesspeople and political leaders and discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations. The historic visit thus reflects the growing strategic ties between the two rising stars of Southeast Asia.

Vietnam and Indonesia have always been close partners. Their respective founding fathers — Ho Chi Minh and Sukarno — were not only close friends but also shared a common vision about their countries’ prosperous future. Both Vietnam and Indonesia happened to start their journey in 1945, when they earned their hard-fought freedom from their colonial masters.

Their long-standing relationship began a few months after the historic 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung, West Java, when they established diplomatic ties. Since then, their friendship has grown by leaps and bounds.

Their problem-free ties stood the test of time — especially during the Vietnam War and Cold War — and survived despite several tectonic shifts in the areas of international politics, economy and global diplomacy.

Vietnam helped Indonesia during the troubled times of 1965 by supplying rice. It was Indonesia — especially then defense minister Gen. Benny Moerdani, foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja and his successor Ali Alatas — that played a major role in convincing other ASEAN countries to engage Vietnam and bring it into the fold of ASEAN. Vietnam joined the regional grouping in 1995.

By and large, it has been a time-honored traditional friendship that has been continuously nurtured by leaders and the people of Vietnam and Indonesia from time to time. Until now, both countries have signed more than 30 agreements covering many areas. Their leaders and officials meet regularly at the Joint Cooperation Committee on Science and Technology and the Bilateral Cooperation Committee.

Vietnam and Indonesia took bilateral relations to a new level by signing the joint statement on the “Framework of Friendly and Comprehensive Cooperation Entering into the 21st Century” during the presidency of Megawati Soekarnoputri in 2003.

By recognizing the strategic significance of their growing relations, then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed to elevate the bilateral ties to the level of a strategic partnership in 2011, during the visit of prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung to Indonesia. The strategic partnership, the first Indonesia had signed with an ASEAN neighbor, was realized in June 2013 during the visit of president Truong Tan Sang to Indonesia.

Both Vietnam and Indonesia sell similar products and fiercely compete for foreign direct investment and market access. They also have identical natural resources, broad markets, high domestic consumption, huge populations, high demand for consumer goods and similar geographical features.

Trade between Vietnam and Indonesia quadrupled in the last 10 years. Last year, their bilateral trade value surged to a record-high US$6.27 billion, a huge jump from $1.6 billion in 2006.

Many do not realize that Indonesia’s trade with Vietnam in 2016 outshone its trade with big economies like Germany ($5.79 billion), United Kingdom ($2.48 billion) and France ($2.23 billion).

The two countries set an ambitious target of $10 billion by 2018.

Indonesia mainly imports rice, steel, smartphones, textiles and footwear from Vietnam while exporting wood, paper, coal, electronic goods and chemicals. Indonesian cement producer PT Semen Gresik recently invested $300 million in Vietnam’s counterpart Thang Long. Indonesian property giant Ciputra Group earlier built the $2.11 billion Ciputra Hanoi International City in Hanoi, Vietnam.

With direct flights connecting Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta via Vietnam Airlines starting in 2012, people-to-people contacts between the two nations are increasing. According to the Vietnam tourism board, around 70,000 Indonesians visited Vietnam, while 50,000 Vietnamese toured Indonesia last year alone.

In the political field, the two countries share similar views and work closely in the international arena, such as in the United Nations, ASEAN and other international bodies. They also take a similar stance on the South China Sea issue, with their refusal to recognize China’s controversial “nine-dash line” and support for dispute settlement through peaceful negotiations based on international law. Hanoi and Jakarta are also engaged in talks to reach a deal on their exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea.

Vietnam and Indonesia, however, are at loggerheads on the fisheries affairs. Indonesian law enforcers have sunk Vietnamese fishing boats for allegedly poaching in Indonesian waters, however the two nations are determined to solve these issues through peaceful negotiations.

Nguyen’s visit will contribute to deeper bilateral relations and strengthen cooperation in many fields. Vietnam will host the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is slated to attend. The reciprocal visits of Nguyen and Jokowi will change the course of strategic ties between Vietnam and Indonesia.
_________________________________

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.