Ministers of the two countries signed the MoUs in the presence of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following their bilateral talks at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
The MoUs include cooperation agreement on extradition and mutual legal assistance signed by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and Indian External Affairs Minister Shri SM Krishna.
The other MoUs deal with trade, education, oil and gas, maritime affairs and fisheries, science and technology, micro, small and medium businesses, air transportation, and development of urea fertilizer plants in Indonesia.
The MoUs also include cooperation agreement between the Press Councils of the two countries.
Also present at the signing ceremony were Minister/State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, Industry Minister MS Hidayat, Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad, National Education Minister M Nuh, Research and Technology Minister Suharna Surapranata, and Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Gita Wirjawan.
Marty said the signing of 11 MoUs was part of the efforts to realize strategic partnership the two countries declared in 2005.
"Whatever criteria we are using now, be they are in the fields of trade, investment, people-to-people relations, political relations and so forth, the two countries have very close and friendly relations and now we can see the concrete results of the close relations," he said.
He said relations between the two countries should be seen not only from bilateral context but also from regional context as both of them were democratic nations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Indonesia and India had been cooperating in various forums, such as G20, East Asia Summit and Non-Aligned Movement, he said.
"I think India also sees Indonesia as a good and close partner in the region," he said.(*)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
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