Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian and Vanuatu parliaments have signed an inter-parliament cooperation agreement which is part of the Asia-Pacific Parliament Forum.

Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Setya Novanto and his Vanuatu counterpart, Phillip Boedoro signed the cooperation agreement at the Parliament Building here on Thursday.

During the signing of the agreement, Novanto was accompanied by Deputy Chairmen of the DPR Fahri Hamzah and Agus Hermanto, while Philllip Boedoro was flanked by his deputy Dunston Hilton.

On the occasion, Novanto also expressed gratitude to the Vanuatu parliament for sending its delegation to the Asian-African Parliament Conference.

Similarly, Phillip Boedoro expressed gratitude to the Indonesian parliament for inviting the Vanuatu parliament to the conference.

Through the conference, the Indonesian parliament is looking forward to establishing closer and more strategic relations with parliaments from Asian and African countries, Novanto said.

Phillip Boedoro also expressed gratitude to the Indonesian government which has helped the people of Vanuatu when natural disaster hit the state recently.

"This shows good cooperation between Indonesia and Vanuatu," he said.

The conference was part of a series of events held to mark the 60th anniversary of the Asian African Conference held in Bandung, West Java, in 1955.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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