"The Indonesia-US strategic partnership will continue to expand and deepen the two countries bilateral relations," Marsudi remarked in a press statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Saturday.
According to the minister, strategic partnership not only provides benefits to the people of both countries but also contributes to maintaining stability and security and increasing welfare in the region and the world.
Minister Marsudi made the statement after holding a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington DC on May 4, 2017.
During the bilateral meeting, Marsudi and Tillerson agreed to optimize and synergize dialog mechanisms in various areas of cooperation.
As an umbrella of strategic cooperation, dialog mechanism at the ministerial level is expected to identify barriers and advance the implementation of strategic cooperation between both countries.
In the economic field, the Indonesian foreign affairs minister and Tillerson discussed ways to strengthen the mechanism to advance economic cooperation between the two countries, which is expected to increase the trade and investment value.
To this end, Marsudi and Tillerson agreed to immediately revitalize the mechanism of the "Indonesia-US Trade Investment Framework Arrangement" (TIFA), for which a meeting will be held in June 2017.
"TIFA is not only expected to immediately promote trade and investment growth but also to identify future steps to improve interaction between the two countries for boosting economic cooperation," Marsudi said.
With regard to the global efforts to fight radicalism and terrorism, the two ministers agreed on the importance of countering radical ideology through a "soft power" approach.
The Indonesian foreign affairs minister affirmed that the soft power approach should also incorporate efforts to empower the community at the grassroots level, especially in the economic field.
In response, the US Secretary of State invited Indonesia, with the credentials of being the worlds largest democracy and a tolerant Muslim nation, to work along with the US to develop a "soft power" strategy.
In addition, Marsudi and Tillerson highlighted the importance of intensifying cooperation to block the flow of funds for terrorist activities.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
