Maehara extended the appreciation at the first ever ministerial strategic dialog with his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, at the Iikura Guest Palace in Japan on Friday, the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia said in a press statement issued on Saturday.
The Japanese minister said Japan was ready to assist Indonesia as the current chair of ASEAN in enhancing regional cooperation through the meetings of foreign ministers and heads of government/state.
He also expressed the Japanese government`s wish to hold talks with ASEAN member states in working out new documents on ASEAN-Japan relations.
On bilateral relations, Maehara underscored the need to intensify bilateral dialogs at the level of heads of government/state as well as strategic dialogs and economic dialogs at ministerial level.
On the occasion, Maehara pledged US$100 million in loans to finance the third phase of development program in the field of infrastructure reforms aimed at improving the investment climate to attract investment in government-private cooperation projects in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Marty underscored the importance of talks between the two heads of government/state and of ministerial strategic dialogs in the near future.
While in Japan, Marty also paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
At the meeting Kan hoped that he could hold long dialogs with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and although he had several times met with Yudhoyono, the dialogs lasted a short time.
(SYS/S012/S026)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
