The senior officials are still discussing what might be the outcome of the meeting or if an agreement is reached."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will discuss ways to strengthen economic partnership between the two countries during the Japanese premiers visit to Indonesia on Jan 15-16.

Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said at the press briefing here on Thursday that the bilateral economic partnership which is becoming stronger by the day was most likely to be discussed.

Japan is one of the most strategic trade partners and investors for Indonesia.

"The senior officials are still discussing what might be the outcome of the meeting or if an agreement is reached. We cannot talk about it publicly, but mainly it will be about economy," he noted.

More importantly, Nasir underlined that the Prime Minister would bring along about 30 CEOs of big Japanese companies to Jakarta in order to boost trade and investment with Indonesia.

Some key Japanese ministers, namely ministers for foreign affairs, trade and industry and defense, as well as top officials at the prime ministers office are also a part of the delegation visiting Indonesia.

"By the size of Prime Minister Abes entourage, we can tell that the mutually beneficial cooperation between Indonesia and Japan is important to both sides," Nasir stressed.

Japanese Deputy Chief of Mission to Indonesia Kozo Honsei told an Antara correspondent that the CEOs accompanying Prime Minister Abe represented various industrial sectors, such as manufacture, infrastructure, petrochemicals and energy.

Indonesia and Japan recorded a total trade worth US$23.82 billion from January to October 2016, while investment reached US$4,498 billion between January and September 2016, twice the amount recorded in 2015.

Besides economic partnership, Japan is also keen to discuss about the role that the East Asian Summit (EAS) can play in maintaining peace and stability in the region, as well as the current geopolitical issues. These have become important given the context in which some populist political leaders, such as Theresa May in the UK and Donald Trump in the US, have come to assume office, or will do so soon.

Prime Minister Abe will be the first foreign leader to visit Indonesia in 2017. ***3***

(T.A060)

EDITED BY INE/H-YH



(T.A060/A/KR-BSR/A/H-YH) 12-01-2017 19:23:19

Reporter: Azizah Fitriyanti
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2017