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Indonesia seeks to strengthen partnerships with Australia, Japan
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo attends the 14th East Asia Summit in Bangkok on Monday, on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit. (Presidential Press Bureau/Rusman)
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day after meeting with several world leaders, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo continued his talks with other key figures on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok to discuss the development of partnerships.
Jokowi met with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in separate bilateral meetings on Monday.
In talks with Morrison, Jokowi asserted Indonesia’s commitment to push forward and strengthen the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) – which was projected to boost the volume of two-way trade by 19 percent annually – and said he welcomed the ongoing ratification process of the agreement at the Australian parliament.
“The ratification process of IA-CEPA in Indonesia will be done soon,” Jokowi added, according to a press release from the Presidential Palace that was circulated on Monday night.
Morrison said he was hopeful that the legislative ratification in the two countries would be finished by the end of the year because Indonesia and Australia had reached a unanimous agreement toward the landmark trade deal, which was inked in March.
Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto earlier said he would push communications with the House of Representatives to accelerate the ratification.
During a meeting with Australia’s Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Simon John Birmingham on Saturday, Agus reaffirmed Indonesia’s commitment to ratify the IA-CEPA landmark trade deal. Birmingham said the Australian parliament was to ratify the IA-CEPA by the end of this month or in early December.
