The prime minister announced the offer in a joint press statement with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo after a bilateral meeting on Tuesday.

"Considering the impact of the spread of COVID-19 on the Indonesian economy, on this occasion, Japan has set a financial loan amounting 50 billion yen to increase Indonesia's disaster management capacity,” Suga said through an interpreter on Tuesday evening.

“In addition, Japan will encourage cooperation with health assessment institutions in Indonesia by providing medical goods and equipment."

Indonesia has experienced one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Asia, with 368,842 confirmed cases and a death toll of 12,734. The Health Ministry added 3,602 confirmed cases on Tuesday.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Indonesia’s economic downturn is likely to be worse than previously expected as the country struggles to contain the pandemic. Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) is now expected to shrink by 1.5 percent annually, rather than the 0.3 percent contraction the IMF projected in June.

Jokowi said Japan had been an important partner for Indonesia in managing the COVID-19 crisis, ever since Indonesia evacuated its citizens from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama.

“We talked about efforts to strengthen economic cooperation, and Japan is one of Indonesia’s strategic partners in the economic field,” the President said in his statement, which also noted the expansion of investment by Japanese companies in Indonesia.

The two leaders agreed on the importance of establishing a travel corridor for essential business, aiming for its completion within one month.

“We want travel to resume between the two countries for business, including for nurses and caregivers, under the Japan-Indonesia EPA [Economic Partnership Agreement] framework, while at the same time, we have agreed to coordinate closely to resume travel as soon as possible for business objectives in the short term by relaxing self-isolation measures for 14 days after entering the destination country,” Suga said.

Indonesia has struck similar deals with the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, China and Singapore.

In his statement, Jokowi also raised concerns about increasing geopolitical rivalries and asked Japan to cooperate in strengthening multilateral cooperation.

Jokowi received the Japanese prime minister and his delegation at Bogor Palace – some 20 kilometers south of Jakarta, where demonstrations over the controversial Job Creation Law have been taking place.

Suga arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon from Hanoi, Vietnam, where he met with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday. The visit to Indonesia concludes his four-day trip, which runs until Wednesday.

In his first foreign trip since taking office on Sept. 16, Suga sought to strengthen ties with Southeast Asian countries to counter China's growing influence in the region. Vietnam is embroiled in a long-standing dispute with China over sovereignty claims in the South China Sea. Indonesia is not directly involved but has called for the rule of law to prevail.

Japan has its own territorial dispute with China in waters north of Taiwan.

Suga emphasized his country's efforts to contribute to the peace and prosperity of the region and reiterated that ASEAN played an important role in realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific.

"Japan fully supports the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific proposed by Indonesia for adoption, which has many fundamental similarities to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision," he said.

The Indo-Pacific is a reimagining of the Asia-Pacific region that some countries have used to shift the focus away from China as the center of Asia.

Suga added that he would continue to work with Jokowi on the issue during the upcoming ASEAN Summit in November.

Japan has proposed a two-plus-two meeting with Indonesia to discuss regional security. The format brings the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries together for talks on shared concerns.

“Considering changes in the situation in the region and in order to concretize cooperation in the security and defense sectors between the two countries, we have agreed to hold the two-plus-two in the near future and to accelerate discussions for the transfer of defense equipment and technology, as well as to encourage human resources development, including law enforcement at sea,” Suga said.

In the economic sector, the leaders discussed how to promote and enhance cooperation in infrastructure development.

Indonesia and Japan have a long-standing economic relationship and have partnered previously in infrastructure projects, including in the construction of the Jakarta MRT and Patimban Port.