Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Ta Van Thong (Photo: VNA) In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the 10th anniversary ofthe Vietnam-Indonesia strategic partnership, the diplomat noted that PartyGeneral Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Indonesia in2017 marked an important milestone in the bilateral relations, as it was the first by a top Party leader of Vietnam to Indonesia after that by President HoChi Minh in 1959.
In 2018, Indonesian President Joko Widodo paid a state visitto Vietnam, while PM Phuc also visited Indonesia the same year. In 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, PM Chinh chose Indonesia for his first trip abroad aftertaking office. Last year, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc also made a state visit toIndonesia, he noted.
The diplomat said that the action programmes signedbetween the two sides have deepened bilateral partnership in all fields, frompolitics, diplomacy, defence-security to economy, tourism, culture andpeople-to-people exchange. They have finalised a joint action programmes for the2024-2028 period for signing at an early date. Meanwhile, other cooperation mechanismssuch as committee for bilateral cooperation at the deputy foreign minister level,and joint committee for economic, science-technology cooperation have also beenimplemented.
Indonesia is currently the third largest trade partner of Vietnam in theregion, while Vietnam is the fourth biggest of Indonesia. Two-way trade tripledin the 2013-2022 period to over 14.4 billion USD in 2022. The figure reached4.2 billion USD in the first four months of 2023, with Vietnam’s exports making up 1.6billion USD. This year, two-way trade is expected to reach or exceed 15 billionUSD.
The two sides have enjoyed fruitful defence-securitycooperation, with many high-level visits. The Vietnam Coast Guard signed acooperation agreement with the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency in December2021.
Vietnam and Indonesia have cooperated in aquatic farming, and fisheriesexploitation and processing.
Bilateral cooperation in culture, education-training,tourism and people-to-people exchange has also been strengthened. Localities ofthe two sides have set up their partnership. Each year, the two countrieswelcome about 70,000-80,000 visitors from each other, he said, adding thatVietnam and Indonesia have resumed a number of direct air routes and areconsidering the opening of new ones.
Regarding the focus of the Vietnam-Indonesia cooperation inthe time to come, Ambassador Thong said that along with the sound partnershipin politics-diplomacy, bilateral economic cooperation has also seen strong growth.
In the time to come, the two sides will continue to promote their traditionalfriendship, paving the way for the development of the bilateral strategicpartnership to a new height, he said, adding that the signing of a new jointaction programme for the 2024-2028 period will help the two sides further beefup their already sound partnership, while opening new cooperation opportunitiesin new areas such as energy transition, digital transformation and infrastructurebuilding.
Ambassador Thong highlighted the bright prospects ofeconomic cooperation between Vietnam and Indonesia, the world’s 16th biggest economy, especially in trade and investment.
Mentioning major priorities and orientations in the Vietnam-Indonesiapartnership in the future, the diplomat underlined that the two sides willcontinue to collaborate closely at multilateral organisations and forums, whilemaintaining and promoting existing cooperation mechanisms, coordinatingpolicies following Indonesia’s priorities, increasing delegation exchanges, andfurther promoting collaboration in defence-security.
At the same time, the two countries will continue to strengthen cooperation in economy,trade and investment, expanding bilateral ties to new and promising areas, andgiving more incentives for businesses to encourage them to explore each other’smarket, he said.
Vietnam and Indonesia will also bolster ties in culture,education, tourism and people-to-people exchange, with the opening of more airroutes connecting tourist destinations in the two countries, stated theambassador.
Regarding cooperation between the two countries within the ASEAN, Ambassador Thong heldthat the relations between Vietnam and Indonesia are important to theestablishment of the ASEAN Community and the role and position of the ASEAN inthe current regional architecture. Indonesia was the first to support Vietnamto join the ASEAN.
As active members of the association, the two countries haveworked hard together for the development of the ASEAN Economic Community, hesaid.
The diplomat noted that in ASEAN, Indonesia is the largest market withmore than 280 million consumers, and Vietnam ranks third with 100 millionpeople and an impressive economic growth.
During the COVID-19 period, Vietnam, as the ASEAN Chair,coordinated closely with other ASEAN member countries, including Indonesia, to makepositive contributions in responding to the pandemic, recovering the supplychain, ensuring a safe environment for production and business activities, andpromoting the self-reliance and intra-bloc strength of the association, hesaid.
As the ASEAN Chair in 2023, Indonesia has focused onspeeding up recovery of the member countries, overcoming challenges amid thedifficult and unexpected developments in the world economic situation, statedthe ambassador./.
VNA
