Having almost completed his assignment in Jakarta, outgoing Pakistani ambassador to Indonesia Mohammad Aqil Nadeem launched on Friday the publication of a book entitled Pakistan Menakjubkan (Wonderful Pakistan) to provide cultural and tourism insights into his country.

“Upon the completion of my assignment in Jakarta, we’ll be leaving for Pakistan by the end of next month,” he said during a reception for Pakistan’s 71st National Day at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jakarta.

He was posted to Jakarta in 2015.

The book, which was distributed to all guests, contained information in Indonesian about Pakistani tourist attractions.

The Pakistan National Day is celebrated to commemorate the Lahore Resolution, which was passed on March 23, 1940, and the adoption of the first Pakistani constitution during the transition from being a British dominion into an Islamic republic, the world’s first.

The celebration commenced with the hoisting of the nation’s flag at the embassy in the morning and a diplomatic reception in the evening.

Nadeem said in his speech that Pakistan and Indonesia shared deep historic relations even before both countries gained their freedom, to when Indonesia was still fighting for its independence.

Pakistan’s founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah had actively encouraged British Indian Muslim soldiers serving the British occupation forces in Java to join the Indonesian nationalist forces.

“Some 6,000 did fight among the freedom fighters and about 500 lost their lives supporting Indonesia’s rightful independence,” he said.

“The relations between the leaders of the two countries have always remained resilient in the last 70 years.”

Nadeem said that Indonesia’s founding father, president Sukarno, visited Pakistan three times and the number of high level visits by both sides have been increasing every year.

“The past few months have been exceptional as far as our bilateral relations are concerned. President Jokowi visited Pakistan in January this year when a number of important agreements were signed, involving the supply of LNG [liquified natural gas] to Pakistan and allowing additional of items to be exported to Indonesia under a preferential trade agreement,” he said.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo visited Pakistan in January as part of his South Asian tour.

Jokowi gave a speech at the Pakistani Parliament to an audience including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, as well as Pakistan’s senate chair and parliament speaker.

After the speech, Jokowi met Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain, when Jokowi said that since the implementation of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in 2013, the value of trade between Indonesia and Pakistan had increased from US$1.6 billion to USD2.1 billion in 2016.

Nadeem said the value of trade continued to rise, reaching an all-time high of $2.5 billion in 2017.

“Pakistan is currently the fourth largest importer of Indonesian palm oil and with the ongoing LNG import negotiations, the annual trade would soon be expected to cross the $3 billion mark,” he said.

Indonesia had just started importing Pakistani oranges in February after years of negotiating.

As the chief guest at the reception, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said he was hopeful trade would continue to improve.

“By our new PTA, which was announced during the visit of President Joko Widodo to Islamabad, I’m confident that new opportunities may come and enable us to increase our trade volumes,” he said.

Other dignitaries attending the diplomatic reception included Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Regional Representatives Council (DPD) Speaker Oesman Sapta Odang and Deputy Foreign Minister AM Fachir.

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