Bogor, W. Java (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and the Federated States of Micronesia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on providing free visas to diplomatic and service passport holders.

The MoU was signed by Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi and Micronesia Secretary of Foreign Affairs Lorin S. Robert and witnessed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Micronesia President Peter Christian at the Bogor Palace here on Wednesday.

President Jokowi noted at a joint press conference that during the bilateral meeting, both countries had agreed on four issues.

Jokowi elaborated that Indonesia and Micronesia had firstly agreed on cooperation in the maritime sector and inter-island connectivity, with both countries being archipelagic states.

Both nations have agreed to enhance cooperation to improve interaction among business players. Indonesia has invited businessmen from the Federated States of Micronesia to participate in the Great Expo Indonesia 2018.

Indonesia will also appoint an honorary consul for Micronesia to enhance bilateral ties, Jokowi revealed.

Indonesia has offered scholarship and cooperation to develop various sectors in order to boost people-to-people ties, the head of state remarked.

The Federated States of Micronesia is an independent sovereign island nation comprising four states from west to east -- Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae -- that are spread across the Western Pacific Ocean.

The states comprise some 607 islands that cover a longitudinal distance of almost 2,700 kilometers (km) just north of the equator.

They lie northeast of Papua Island, south of Guam and the Marianas, west of Nauru and the Marshall Islands, east of Palau and the Philippines, some 2,900 km north of eastern Australia and some four thousand km southwest of the main islands of Hawaii.

Palikir, the capital of Micronesia, is located on Pohnpei Island, while the largest city is Weno, located in the Chuuk Atoll.
Reported by Joko Susilo
(S022/INE)
(T.SYS/A/KR-BSR/C/F001) 18-07-2018 14:55:11

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Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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