"Indonesia invites India to step up investment cooperation in the pharmaceutical, information technology and automotive fields," the Indonesian head of state said in a joint press statement issued following a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hyderabad House, here, Monday.
He lauded a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the trade standardization between the two nations.
The MoU would help boost bilateral trade and support economic cooperation, as well as people to people contact, Jokowi believed.
India is an important partner of Indonesia, and the bilateral ties in the political, economic and socio-cultural fields between the two countries have been strengthening from time to time, according to him.
"In todays meeting, we discussed comprehensively our efforts to step up economic cooperation," he noted.
Indonesia wished to increase trade with India and diversify its exported products.
"We also discussed efforts to intensify cooperation in investment," Jokowi remarked.
Indonesia considered cooperation in pharmaceutical raw materials with India a priority, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno LP Marsudi said.
"So, this is quite a strategic cooperation and we will try to explore it further and look forward to concrete implementation," she said.
So far, Indonesia has imported various pharmaceutical raw materials from India.
"But, we are currently encouraging India to invest in pharmaceutical raw materials in Indonesia," she added.
President Jokowi is on a two-day state visit (December 12 and 13) to India.
His visit began with an official welcome ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Presidential Palace), here, in the morning of Monday.
He and First Lady Iriana were greeted by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Modi.
The Indonesian president then visited the Raj Ghat memorial complex, where he paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of Indias struggle for independence, and laid a wreath at the eternal flame.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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