President Jokowi to Visit Russia
President Jokowi shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin
In addition to visiting South Korea on 15 18 Mei, President Joko Jokowi Widodo is slated to visit Russia on 18-20 May to attend ASEAN-Russia Summit to commemorate 20th Anniversary of ASEAN-Russia Cooperation. The Summit is to be held in Sochi, Russia, on 19-20 Mei 2016.
Director of Central and Eastern Europe Affairs of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Witjaksono said that President Jokowi will fly to Sochi on 18 May after paying a working visit to South Korea. President Jokowi will also have a bilateral talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Witjaksono said in Jakarta on Thursday (12/5).
He added that this is the first President Jokowis visit to Russia, which is Indonesias important trading partner. Previously, the last Indonesian President who visited Russia was Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono back in 2006.
During the talk, Witjaksono added, President Jokowi and his Russian counterpart will discuss bilateral, regional, and global issues.
For bilateral issues, both leaders will discuss economic issues, one of which is the effort to expand market access for Indonesias primary products, he added.
In addition, Witjaksono said that both leaders will discuss measures to increase Russias investment in Indonesia, especially in the infrastructure and energy sectors and cooperation on defense and security sectors between the two countries.
One of the results to be produced is cooperation on defense sector. Both countries will also establish a joint communiqué on measures to address illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing and sign a Memorandum of Understanding on archives, Witjaksono said.
Witjaksono further said that ASEAN and Russia began an informal dialog in 1991 and in 1996 both sides upgraded it into a formal ASEAN-Russia partnership cooperation. (ANT/ES) (Naster/YM/EP)
