Indonesia, Vietnam set sights on US$18 billion bilateral trade target

At a reception held for the Indonesian President-elect in Hanoi on September 14, PM Chinh gave assurance over Vietnam's readiness to co-operate and support Indonesia in ensuring food security. He asked the Indonesian side to soon sign a rice trade co-operation agreement, facilitate Vietnamese farm produce and Halal products to access the Indonesian market, and back the nation's efforts for the European Commission (EC)’s removal of the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing yellow card.

He congratulated President-elect Subianto on his election for the 2024 to 2029 term with high confidence and welcomed his visit to Vietnam amid both nations celebrating the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership, towards the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations ahead in 2025.

The visit also demonstrates the close-knit relationship, trust, and determination that exists between the two countries as they strive step up ties and sustainable development for the causes of peace, stability, and common prosperity.

The Government chief congratulated Indonesia on its 79th National Day and its remarkable achievements to become the largest economy in Southeast Asia and the 16th in the world, with social security guaranteed.

PM Chinh expressed his belief that the Indonesian Government and people will continue to record many great achievements in the cause of national construction and development, achieving the goal of becoming a developed country on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the nation ahead in 2045, with an increasingly significant role and position in the region and the world.

The President-elect congratulated Vietnam on its National Day and offered condolences over the serious damage caused by typhoon Yagi.

He expressed his admiration for the indomitable and resilient spirit of the Vietnamese people in the struggle for national independence, as well as in the causes of national construction and development. He affirmed that he highly values ​​and will make every effort to strengthen and develop the traditional friendship and strategic partnership with the Vietnamese side more strongly in a variety of fields.

The two leaders agreed that over the past nearly seven decades, the bilateral relationship, originally founded by President Ho Chi Minh and President Sukarno, has developed strongly and extensively, especially after upgrading the relationship to that of a strategic partnership in 2013.

Both nations have worked to maintain deeper political understanding and trust, more comprehensive and effective linkages across multiple fields, while they have also actively collaborated and supported each other at multilateral mechanisms such as UN, ASEAN, and Non-Aligned Movement.

Accordingly, the two sides agreed on a number of major orientations to effectively exploit co-operation potential in various fields, develop the strategic partnership in an increasingly deeper and more substantial manner, and take the bilateral relationship to new heights  in the near future in celebration of the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic relations and the 80th anniversary of each country's independence next year.

They also pledged to continue intensifying the exchange of high-level and all-level delegations and contacts through various channels, effectively carry out bilateral co-operation mechanisms to build trust and help deal with difficulties in numerous areas, whilst striving to soon achieve the goal of reaching US$18 billion in bilateral trade turnover.

Subianto, for his part, wished to augment co-operation with the country on food security, energy security, and high technology, with high hopes that Vietnam will share its experience in agricultural development.

The two sides consented to encourage and create optimal conditions for businesses from both countries to invest in each other's markets, especially in new areas such as the digital economy, the green economy, energy conversion, and electric vehicle ecosystem development, whilst working to accelerate the early signing of co-operation documents on technical training and digital economy.

The two leaders also agreed to deepen ties in other important areas such as defence and security, maritime co-operation, fisheries collaboration, and digital partnerships. This includes cross-border e-commerce, digital transformation; combating transnational crimes and other forms of cybercrime, supporting information technology enterprises; enhancing cultural and people-to-people exchange, and aviation and locality-to-locality connectivity.

They also compared notes on regional and international issues of mutual concern, whilst agreeing to strengthen co-operation, reinforce solidarity, the central role, and common views of ASEAN in regional security issues. This includes the East Sea issue and to promote sustainable and equitable development of sub-regions in the region, including the Mekong sub-region.

PM Chinh suggested that Indonesia continue to closely work alongside Vietnam to maintain solidarity, common stance, and ASEAN's achievements in the East Sea issue, whilst speeding up substantive and effective negotiations on the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS).

He also used this occasion to urge Indonesia to support and dispatch a high-ranking representative to the 2025 ASEAN Future Forum and the Partnering for Green Growth & the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) Summit which will be held in Vietnam next year.