INDONESIA, TURKEY WORK HARMONIOUSLY IN BILATERAL, MULTILATERAL PLATFORMS by Fardah
Jakarta, Aug 7, 2015 (Antara) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a
three-day state visit to Indonesia from July 30 to August 1 to
strengthen bilateral economic, social and political relations between
the two Muslim-majority countries.
The visit also marked the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations. In
fact, the Turkish-Indonesian relations can be traced back to the 12th
century when Turkish Islamic scholars had visited Indonesia to spread
Islamic teachings. The state visit to Indonesia was Erdogan's
first ever as Turkey's president, but he had visited the nation three
times in his previous capacity as prime minister.
Speaking about his country's foreign policy during a conference held at
the Indonesian Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) on July 31, President
Erdogan said that Turkey and Indonesia have worked in harmony in both
bilateral and multilateral platforms. He believed that the strong political ties will benefit not only the two nations but the entire world, as well. Erdogan
also expressed his desire to work more closely with Indonesia at the
Global Counterterrorism Forum and in the fight against tendencies such
as xenophobia, discrimination, racism and Islamophobia. Later
in the day, during a joint press conference with President Joko
"Jokowi" Widodo, he stated that the two countries were looking forward
to signing a free trade agreement, which is expected to help boost
economic cooperation using their full potentials. "We will set
up a business forum, which is important because it can lead to the
development of new projects and serve as a platform to discuss global
issues," he explained. Turkey
is one of Indonesia's closest partners. The two countries have signed
an Indonesia-Turkey Joint Declaration Towards an Enhanced Partnership in
a New World Setting. The declaration was signed by the Indonesian and
Turkish presidents on April 5, 2011, in Jakarta.
In the field of trade, Turkey is Indonesia's seventh-biggest trade
partner in Europe, with the total value of trade in 2014 reaching
US$2.47 billion, and Indonesia enjoying a surplus of US$450 million. Indonesia's main exports to Turkey are natural rubber, synthetic fiber, palm oil, and textile. In
2010, Turkey and Indonesia had particularly set an ambitious target to
step up their bilateral trade to US$5 billion by 2015 Turkish
investment in Indonesia in 2014 was recorded at US$64.1 million in 29
projects, rising significantly from US$11.7 million in 22 projects in
2013.
Jokowi noted that in the meeting attended by the two countries¿
delegations, they had focused on subjects related to the economy,
including identifying ways to eliminate trade barriers and realize free
trade.
Both nations will cooperate in the development of power plants fueled
by natural gas as well as introduce a direct flight between Turkey and
Indonesia to boost tourism.
"We also agreed to open a direct flight for the Turkey-Kuala
Lumpur-Jakarta-Denpasar route to boost tourism and cargo shipments
between Indonesia and Turkey," he remarked. With regard to tourism, six thousand Turkish tourists visited Indonesia in 2014. The
two leaders in the bilateral meeting also agreed to realize cooperation
in the industries of military equipment and shipbuilding. "Cooperation
in the military equipment sector and small shipbuilding industries will
be realized immediately," President Jokowi said.
Turkey and Indonesia have been exploring cooperation in military and
defense industry development over the last few years.
This was in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on
defense industry signed by the two countries when the then President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had visited Turkey in June 2010.
Volkan Bozkir in his capacity as chairman of the Turkish Parliament's
Foreign Affairs Committee, when visiting Jakarta in September 2012,
stated that his country was very advanced in the defense industry and
ready to establish cooperation in the sphere with Indonesia. The
Turkish government's willingness to support the revitalization of
Indonesia's defense industry was also expressed earlier when a
seven-member Indonesian parliamentarian delegation headed by Mahfudz
Siddiq made a three-day working visit to Turkey in April 2011. In
the meantime, in a meeting with Vice President M Jusuf Kalla, Erdogan
said the process of conflict settlement in Aceh could become a model to
resolve conflicts in his region. "We
are also talking about each peaceful settlement, such as how to settle
the Aceh conflict. President Erdogan studied how to solve the
Aceh problem as a model to settle the conflict in Turkey," Kalla said
on August 1. Turkey
is a country that borders Syria, becoming a potential gateway for
people seeking to join the radical movement Islamic State of Iraq and
al-Sham (ISIS). Kalla said Erdogan also is concerned by the many people who want to join ISIS by traveling through his country.
"Indonesia and Turkey are facing the same problem, ISIS. However, the
problem is more serious in Turkey, than in Indonesia," Kalla said. ***2*** (F001/INE/a014) EDITED BY INE
No comments:
Post a Comment