During their summit, Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joko Widodo also pledged efforts to sharply increase bilateral trade and diversify business cooperation between the two countries. (Image: Yonhap)
JAKARTA, Nov. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — The presidents of South Korea and Indonesia agreed Thursday to upgrade their relations to “special strategic partnership” to push forward all-compassing cooperation in economy, culture, politics and security issues.
During their summit, Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joko Widodo also pledged efforts to sharply increase bilateral trade and diversify business cooperation between the two countries.
Moon arrived in Jakarta Wednesday for a three-day state visit to further enhance diplomatic ties, labeled “strategic partnership” in 2006.
They agreed to work together to ensure that the strategic partnership goes beyond the bilateral context and strategically converges to contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world, according to a joint statement released by Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
“The two leaders agreed to elevate the bilateral relations to a ‘Special Strategic Partnership,’” it said.
The new definition of relations places greater emphasis on concrete cooperation for the benefit of the two countries and their peoples in various fields, particularly in key industries and infrastructures, the statement explained.
The leaders also agreed to explore a “two-plus-two” meeting involving their foreign and defense officials that will come in addition to the countries’ Ministerial Joint Commission and Vice Ministerial Strategic Dialogue.
The two countries established diplomatic ties in September 1973.
On the economic front, the two leaders promised to boost the bilateral trade volume to US$30 billion in 2022. Bilateral trade stood at $23.6 billion in 2014, according to data from the Korean Embassy in Jakarta.
As part of efforts to increase the exchange of people, Seoul agreed to simplify its visa issuance procedure for Indonesian tourists to South Korea, according their statement.
They also agreed to support each other to make the 2018 Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in South Korea’s Pyeongchang and the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta a success.
“The two leaders agreed to explore ways to utilize those sporting events for the facilitation of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries,” they said in their joint statement.
Moon and Widodo pledged the bilateral cooperation will spread to regional and global issues, including the North Korean nuclear standoff.
“The two leaders expressed grave concern over North Korea’s sixth nuclear test and multiple launches of ballistic missiles which constitute a serious challenge to international peace and security,” the statement said, referring to the communist state’s latest and most powerful nuclear test staged on Sept. 3.
“The two leaders reaffirmed their support for the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and urged North Korea to immediately comply fully with its obligations under relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.”
(Yonhap)
