Out of the 23 bilateral meetings held by Indonesia that day, the talks with three OECD countries, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, were the longest in duration. Ranked by GDP, these three nations hold the OECD’s top-four positions, with the United States standing in first place.

Shorter talks were also held on the same day on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) with nine other OECD members: Sweden, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Portugal.

“We are using these meetings to seek support for Indonesia’s candidacy at the UN Human Rights Council and also at the OECD,” Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi told reporters after the meetings. “So far, all of the responses to both of our candidacies have been very positive.”

As one of the world’s largest economies, Indonesia has been one of the OECD’s five key partners since 2007. Five years later, Indonesia became the first key partner to have signed a Framework of Cooperation Agreement with the grouping, which consists mostly of wealthy nations.

OECD membership is projected to boost Indonesia’s economy via increased investment, as well as elevating its status to that of high-income country. Before submitting its official bid in August, Indonesia had for years worked on fulfilling the group’s requirements, by reforming its domestic economic system among other means.

Read also: RI first ASEAN country to file for OECD membership

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