President Jokowi, President Boakai Discuss Indonesia-Liberia Strategic Cooperation
President Joko Widodo holds a bilateral meeting with Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai in the Casablanca Room, Mulia Hotel Nusa Dua Bali, Monday (09/02). (Photo by: Press Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat/Muchlis Jr)
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Monday (09/02) held a bilateral meeting with Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, in the Casablanca Room, Mulia Hotel Nusa Dua Bali, on the sidelines of the High-Level Forum on Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (HLF MSP) and the 2nd Indonesia-Africa Forum (IAF).
The meeting marked an important moment in bilateral relations for almost six decades between Indonesia and Liberia.
In his introduction to the meeting, President Jokowi expressed appreciation for President Boakai’s presence and emphasized that bilateral relations between the two countries have been going well for almost 60 years.
“Welcome to Indonesia and thank you for Your Excellency’s presence. The bilateral relations between Indonesia and Liberia have been going well for almost six decades, and I am sure there is still a lot of potential that we can develop together,” said President Jokowi.
President Jokowi also underlined three main sectors of cooperation that can be strengthened between Indonesia and Liberia.
The first one is cooperation in the palm oil sector which is currently facing various challenges, ranging from black campaigns launched in the Western world to the discriminatory policies of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
“Indonesia continues to fight against these negative campaigns and hopes that Liberia can also continue to give support. Indonesia is also ready to help in increasing capacity in African countries, including Liberia,” said President Jokowi.
The second sector is cooperation in the infrastructure sector. President Jokowi said that Indonesia has many companies with extensive experience in infrastructure development, which are ready to cooperate with Liberia.
“Indonesia has many companies with extensive experience in infrastructure development, and we are ready to cooperate with Liberia to support infrastructure development there,” he added.
Regarding the third sector, President Jokowi expressed Indonesia’s readiness to strengthen development cooperation with Liberia through various programs tailored to Liberia’s needs, starting from technical support, scholarships, to vocational training.
“We are ready to give everything to support development in Liberia,” said the President.
This bilateral meeting is expected to strengthen relations between the two countries and open up opportunities for new mutually beneficial cooperation, especially in the strategic areas that have been discussed.
The two leaders also reinforced their commitment to continue working together for mutual progress in the future. (Press Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat/ABD) (TM/EP)
