President Joko Widodo Begins Working Visit to Three Middle East Contries

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo began a working visit to three Middle East countries (United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) from Friday (11/9) until Tuesday (15/9).

According to the President, the visit was aimed at tightening bilateral ties between Indonesia and those countries.

“The Middle East is an important partner for economic cooperation particularly trade and investment. Thus, this visit is expected to be able to open a bigger market access for Indonesian products in the Middle East market,” President Joko Widodo said in his press statement at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, East Jakarta, on Friday (11/9) morning.

He added that he would hold a bilateral talk with King Salman Bin Abdulazis in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, then with Syeikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince of United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, and with Syeikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar in Doha, Qatar.

According to the President, Saudi Arabia is Indonesia’s biggest trade partner in the Middle East, while United Arab Emirates is the main destination for Indonesian exports to Middle East and Qatar is the biggest investment contributor including portfolio investment from Middle East to Indonesia.

Therefore, he added, this visit was also meant to promote investment and invite investors from the three countries to invest in infrastructures and also to stimulate money flow for portfolio investment to Indonesia.

Furthermore, the President said that the Government would also continue promoting partnership and cooperation in strategic industrial sectors, including a purchase plan of some Indonesia’s product of primary weaponry defense system (alutsista) by the three countries.

During the press conference, the President said that he would also touch on the presence of 1.4 million of Indonesian people in the three countries. Most of them are Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) in the informal sector who give a big contribution for the economy of the three countries and Indonesia’s economy as well.

Therefore, he stated that the protection for Indonesian citizens would be one of the focus of his state visit.

“The Indonesian Government will keep encouraging the government of those three countries to always pay attention to and protect Indonesian migrant workers and citizens (there),” President Joko Widodo noted.

During the visit the President was accompanied by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Darmin Nasution, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Minister of Trade Thomas Lembong, Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Franky Sibarani, and Presidential Special Envoy to the Middle East Region Alwi Shihab.(ES/Humas) (JS/EP/LW-Naster/Sy)