"We have built very good relations with Saudi Arabia. This is the kind of relationship we want personal relations not bilateral relations that are too formal and procedural," said President Joko Widodo when he received participants of the National Student Conference at the Bogor Palace on Friday.
The National Student Conference took place at the National Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta from December 3-6, 2018, and produced 11 recommendations in the fields of human resource development, education, teacher welfare, social justice and human rights enforcement.
The president conveyed this while speaking about Indonesia`s investment direction.
"Now, we are just maintaining a balance regarding investment. Not only from the United States, Japan, China or Korea, we are now building a balance, so that investments can come from countries in the Middle East; from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE); which are also big investors," said the president.
The president then explained that he could immediately call Saudi Arabia`s King Salman bin Abdulaziz and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani if he had a problem.
"If there`s anything, we can now call King Salman; even if we want to offer something, we can call him directly. We have personal relations with Emir UAE Sheikh Mohammed and we can also call him directly," the president added.
Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani once met with President Joko Widodo at the Bogor Palace to hold bilateral talks. There are five memorandums of understanding signed by both parties.
"With the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim too, our relationship is very close. I call Sheikh Tamim in Qatar, he calls me `bro Jokowi`, I call him `bro Tamim`," the president explained.
According to the president, initially Sheikh Tamim imagined that Indonesia was different.
"He thought we were very poor. As soon as he arrived in Jakarta, he was shocked. He saw the entire Indonesia, and realized it was very advanced," the president added.
In essence, the president considered that investment relations with several countries were needed, so that they did not depend on one or two countries.
President Joko Widodo also asked the students to maintain unity in the political year.
"I believe that there will be a legislative election next year, a presidential election; there may be a different choice, it is not a problem, but let`s be mature in politics. Don`t let the district heads, mayors, governors, presidents and their choices vary. Villages do not greet each other, neighbors do not greet each other," said the president.
Accompanying the president at the meeting was Minister of Research and Higher Education M Natsir and Social Affairs Minister Agus Gumiwang.
Reporting by Desca Lidya Natalia, Eliswan Azly
Editing by Suharto
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
