Indonesia - Vietnam relations built on a solid foundation

Veteran journalist Mohammad Anthoni outlined this in an editorial piece published on December 21 in the bulletin of National News Agency Antara.

This positive relationship between the two governments and peoples has been built, maintained, and developed by President Ho Chi Minh and President Sukano since the two nations' resistance wars for national independence.

Subsequent generations of leaders have subsequently sought to strengthen this neighbourly bond through high-level meetings.

Anthoni, who is also known as an international commentator and veteran Indonesian researcher, emphasized that President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's state visit from December 21 to December 23 to Indonesia is a message that reaffirms that the Vietnamese senior leadership greatly values the relationship with Indonesia.

Through this visit, President Phuc wishes to co-operate alongside Indonesia in a bid to promote a deeper strategic partnership in a multitude of fields, thereby affirming its role as an active member of ASEAN for the causes of peace, co-operation, development, and prosperity in the region and in the world.

Upon reviewing the milestones in the mutual relationship, Antoni said an important turning point in foreign relations took place in June, 2013, when both nations agreed to upgrade ties to that of a strategic partnership.

This is the result of efforts made by both nations’ senior leaders and the consensus of the people of the two countries, thereby affirming their positions in the international and regional arena.

Next year will see the two countries celebrate the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership, with a strong desire to further ramp up co-operation in a multitude of fields from diplomacy, politics, economy, culture, society, trading ties, and people-to-people exchanges.

According to Anthoni, joint relations have been tested and developed through the ups and downs of the times. At the time of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, both sides were the hard hit when recording a large number of infections and the spread of the pandemic on a national scale.

During that difficult period, both countries’ leaders regularly maintained diplomatic communication channels, exchanged and shared ways to overcome difficulties, as well as uniting to combat the pandemic.

Not only that, both countries also shared this burden with other ASEAN member states in building a co-operation mechanism to prevent the spread of the pandemic and expand the vaccination network for the community in phases.

During his visit to Indonesia in 2021, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the Vietnamese side will go ahead with its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization, diversification, and being a responsible, proactive and active community member for comprehensive and extensive integration.

The journalist also emphasised that the country values and will continue to strengthen and expand the strategic partnership that exists with Indonesia.

During their talks, PM Chinh and President Joko Widodo were pleased to see that bilateral co-operation is increasingly deepening and becoming more substantive.

The two leaders therefore agreed to work together in a bid to effectively implement the Action Program for the 2019 to 2023 period, as well as carrying out the strategic partnership and vision for bilateral defence co-operation for the 2018 to 2022 period.

The two leaders took time to discuss a score of measures to augment bilateral economic ties, especially cutting trade barriers, resolving difficulties, and removing obstacles for businesses of the two countries in order to achieve the set goals.

The leaders also underlined the necessity of an early conclusion of negotiations on the delimitation of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between the two countries to create a legal corridor for the two sides to strengthen co-operation and minimise illegal fishing.

The settlement of differences in the maritime border between the two neighbouring countries will therefore contribute to maintaining peace, co-operation, and development in the region.

At the fourth meeting of the Joint Committee on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC-4) on July 20, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi both applauded the various achievements recorded in bilateral co-operation across a variety of fields, especially economic ties.

Bilateral trade turnover in 2021 duly reached US$411.5 billion, up 40% compared to 2020, thereby exceeding the target of US$10 billion set by the two sides in the Action Plan to implement the strategic partnership in the 2019 to 2023 period.

Both nations also consented to strengthen and deepen the strategic partnership through enhancing political trust, promoting bilateral linkages, maintaining trade and investment growth momentum, while simultaneously stepping up ties in other areas such as defence, security, agriculture, energy, tourism, and connectivity.

To further strengthen the partnership in the future, the two sides concurred to accelerate the completion of the Action Plan for the 2024 to 2028 period as a guide for future bilateral co-operation.

In addition, the two sides also agreed on five important issues relating to trade co-operation, investment, maritime security, defence and security cooperation, as well as legal and consular affairs.