"We must be a friend with and put trust in neighboring countries. We cannot choose neighbors with other countries but now we neighbor with Singapore and the Philippines," vice presidential spokesman Yopie Hidayat said here on Wednesday.
He made the remarks after accompanying Vice President Boediono during a meeting with Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen.
Ng Eng Hen met with the vice president to introduce himself as a new defense minister.
During the meeting Boediono and Ng exchanged information and stressed as neighboring states both Indonesia and Singapore needed to build a high mutual trust.
He said defense relations between the two countries had run well, marked by the sending of hundreds of students to respective countries every year.
"Indonesia sends around 600 officers to Singapore to take education and training every year, while at the same time Singapore also sends its officers to Indonesia," Yopie said.
Yopie said at the meeting both Boediono and Ng did not touch on the possibility of Indonesia buying main military armament system from Singapore, borders between the two countries and eradication of human trafficking.
"The vice president and the defense minister only talked about issues related to the importance of cooperation and exchange of ideas in the defense field," he said.(*)
S012/H-NG/F001
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
