Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Bilateral Meeting with Premier of the People’s Republic of China, at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China, November 9, 2024
Thank you very much, Your Excellency Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, Your Excellency Mr Li Qiang and Distinguished Leaders of the Government of the People’s Republic of China. Once again, thank you very much for receiving me and my delegation.
As you reminded us that even before I was officially certified as President-elect, your president and your government kindly received me with great honor in April, this year. This is also very moving for us and for me, and I think this shows the great friendship and the great respect that the People’s Republic of China holds towards Indonesia. And, I would like to emphasize once again, that we consider China to be a very important friend and important partner, not only for now but for the future.
And, as I said that I would make my first state visit to China as the President of the Republic of Indonesia, I was inaugurated on the 20th of October, not even one month ago. And, I would like to thank, once again, the leaders of the People’s Republic of China for sending your vice president as the special envoy of the President of the PRC at my inauguration. I think, once again, a great honor for us for the Indonesian people and for myself.
I … this visit as my first state visit outside Indonesia, less than one month after my inauguration, I think, is a message that I’m committed to strengthen the friendship and cooperation between Indonesia and China. And, I thank you for your remarks that we need to take practical steps, and I think we are moving very fast with practical steps. The investment from Chinese corporations into Indonesia economy is very large. Even the tomorrow afternoon, our Chamber of Commerce and Industry will have an event in which there will be contracts being signed between Chinese corporations and Indonesian companies, amounting to more than US$10 billion. So, I think this shows the close collaboration and also the increased participation and integration of Chinese corporations with Indonesian corporations to the benefit of both our countries.
We will celebrate our 75th Anniversary, I think next year, and on all sides I would like to say that all measures of cooperation shows an increase, a significant increase. We would like to learn from the Chinese experience, how you have developed very fast in the last 30 years, especially your eradication of poverty. And Indonesia, we are going to increase our effort to eradicate our poverty and I think we would like to learn more and more from your experience also.
Also, in your massive increase in your education, I think we also would like to cooperate with your country on the issue of education. We would like to send more and more of our students.