Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesian President Joko Widodoand his spouse concluded a State visit to Vietnam from September 11-12 at theinvitation of President Tran Dai Quang.

During the visit, Widodo held talks with President Quang,paid a courtesy call to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, met PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

Both sides issued a Joint Statement for strengthening bilateralstrategic partnership.

During meetings, they expressed satisfaction with thedevelopment of bilateral strategic partnership with closer trust and links indiverse areas, especially in economy, national defence-security, socio-cultureand people-to-people exchange.

They agreed to maintain regular exchanges of high-levelvisits and offer many opportunities to share views on strategic issues viabilateral mechanisms and consultation, including the Joint Committee onBilateral Cooperation; reinforce legal assistance within the framework of theMemorandum of Understanding on Legal and Judicial Cooperation signed in 2017, includingsharing experience in legal enforcement, administrative reform andanti-corruption.

Leaders reaffirmed the importance of joint work to fighttrans-national crimes such as drug and human trafficking, terrorism, cybercrimes and money laundering.

They again committed to working closely and effectivelytogether to protect each country’s national security interests.

Thetwo sides agreed to implement stronger measures to increase bilateral trade,including removal of unnecessary trade barriers and measures whichare inconsistent with international and regional trade rules and norms, andprovide broader market access for two countries’ goods and services.

Theleaders tasked the relevant ministries to conduct a review on the 1990Agreement on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the governmentsof Vietnam and Indonesia.

Theyagreed to ensure a conducive trade and investment climate through the consistentimplementation of national policies and regulations and tasked the relevantministries to find solutions for the obstacles faced by the business people.

Theyagreed to further foster cooperation in the energy sector and encourage theactive participation of state-run and private enterprises from both sides inthe oil and gas exploration and production, refinery industry and services.

Theyalso agreed to increase the air and sea connectivity of the two countries toease the movement of goods and people. Indonesia took note of Vietnam’s requestfor the exchange of experience in inland waterway transportation.

Tocope with the challenges of the industrial revolution 4.0, the leaders willpromote innovation through enhancing joint research, capacity building onIntellectual Property (IP), and technical assistance and training of IPprofessionals.

Theleaders agreed to continue implementing the 2017 memorandum of understanding onEducation Cooperation and to expand cooperation in education and trainingthrough, among others, exchanges of teachers and students.

They acknowledged and encouraged further contribution of theVietnam - Indonesia Friendship Association and Indonesia - Vietnam FriendshipAssociation to enhance the relations between private sectors as well as peopleof the two countries.

Both sides shared convergence of views on various regionaland international issues. They agreed to continue to work closely to addressglobal and regional challenges, including transnational crimes, climate change,natural disaster risks, food - water - energy security nexus, among others.

They reaffirmed their support for the full and effectiveimplementation of the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC)and welcomed the continued improving cooperation between ASEAN and China andwere encouraged by the progress of the substantive negotiation towards aneffective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

Onthe occasions, Vietnam and Indonesia signed the Plan of Action for theImplementation of Strategic Partnership between the two countries (2019-2023)and the Joint Communiqué on Voluntary International Cooperation to CombatIllegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and to Promote SustainableFisheries Governance.-VNA