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Top PNG, Bruneian, Malaysian diplomats to meet FM Retno

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi is hosting her counterparts from three neighboring countries to discuss various issues in the coming days

Shafira Chairunnisa (The Jakarta Post)
Thu, July 19, 2018

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Top PNG, Bruneian, Malaysian diplomats to meet FM Retno

F

oreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi is hosting her counterparts from three neighboring countries to discuss various issues in the coming days.

Retno’s first guest will be Rimbink Pato of Papua New Guinea who is visiting Jakarta on Thursday to discuss border management, economic potential, bilateral trade and the results of the 34th Joint Border Committee in April in Bali, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told a weekly briefing on Wednesday.

Arrmanatha said border control is an important issue, as Papua New Guinea shares a long land border with Indonesia.

“Papua New Guinea is not only an important neighboring country, but also a big Pacific country where it has a great economy,” he said.

Trade relations between the two countries were worth US$208,8 million in 2017, an increase from 2016 when they were worth $179,2 million, he added.

Indonesia is also among the countries helping Papua New Guinea prepare for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, which will be held in Port Moresby in November. “Indonesia provided various help, such as capacity building, conference management and protocol,” he said.

On Friday, Retno is slated to meet Brunei Darussalam’s Second Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Lim Jock Seng.

According to Denny Abdi, the ministry’s director for Southeast Asia bilateral affairs, the two countries will hold a Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) meeting led by Lim and focusing on economic cooperation, trade and investment.

“Brunei has the highest income per capita after Singapore,” he said. “They have a strong purchasing power.”

Since Brunei started to diversify its economy away from oil and gas, there is a possibility to talk about investment in Indonesia and cooperation over tourism, Denny said.

Indonesia and Brunei have good bilateral relations with about 800,000 Indonesian migrant workers residing in Brunei, about 20 percent of Brunei’s population, he said.

Denny said Brunei was taking good care of the Indonesians as the two countries had similar cultures.

“We are focusing on better relations in the political, cultural and economic sectors,” he added.

Retno is to have her first meeting with Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah on Monday.

It would be Saifuddin’s first official visit after he was sworn in on July 2.

“His [Saifuddin] first official visit is to Indonesia and this proves that the two countries are important to each other,” Denny said at the briefing.

Denny said Malaysia and Indonesia would talk about Sumatran rhinoceros conservation that if successful would be an achievement for both countries.

He said there are only two rhinos left in Malaysia and a decreasing number of them in Indonesia.

“We hope the conservation effort will increase the number of Sumatran rhinos,” Denny said.

The two countries are to also talk about education access for children of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia and overlapping border claims.

— The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.

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