Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) discussed three important topics during a bilateral meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister (PM) Hun Manet in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday.

The meeting also aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between Indonesia and Cambodia, welcoming the celebration of 65 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2024.

In a statement from the Presidential Secretariat Office, Jokowi highlighted three issues in the bilateral meeting, with the first being increasing trade and investment cooperation through developing connectivity and infrastructure, both in the air and sea sectors.

Regarding investment, the president affirmed that Indonesian state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were ready to contribute and become main partners in the railway and infrastructure sectors.

"We also need to encourage interaction between business sectors to strengthen trade and investment," he stressed.

Second, on the issue of eradicating criminal acts of human trafficking, he commended the support of the Cambodian Government in handling Indonesian citizens (WNI) who became victims.

The head of state also emphasized the need to increase cooperation in preventing and handling criminal acts of human trafficking between countries of origin and destination countries as well as implementing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the Eradication of Transnational Crime in 2023.

"The MoU must be implemented immediately, especially on the exchange of intelligence information and increasing the police capacity of the two countries," he remarked.

Lastly, the two leaders discussed cooperation in the field of food security, including rice imports from Cambodia.

On the occasion, Jokowi encouraged the completion of the renewal of the MoU on Rice Trade Cooperation and the MoU on the Establishment of a Counter-Trade Mechanism to agree on the price and quantity of imported rice.

"Implementation of the Agricultural MoU also needs to be immediately encouraged, especially the follow-up to increase agricultural management capacity, irrigation, as well as investment in rice processing and storage," he remarked.

The president also expressed his gratitude for Cambodia's support during Indonesia's Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2023.

He then drew attention to the importance of implementing the ASEAN agreement in the form of a five-point consensus (5PC) and resolving the Myanmar crisis.

"We realize that ASEAN needs to implement the ASEAN agreement and resolve the Myanmar crisis. Indonesia will continue to support the chairmanship of Laos this year, especially in implementing 5PC," he stated.

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Translator: Benardy Ferdiansyah, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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