Hanoi (VNA) –Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his spouse will pay a state-level visit toVietnam from September 11-12 on the occasion of his attending the WorldEconomic Forum on ASEAN. This is his first official visit to Vietnam since hisassumption of the presidency in 2014.

Vietnam and Indonesiaestablished diplomatic relations on December 30, 1955. The bilateral traditionalrelations of friendship have been built on the firm foundation laid byPresident Ho Chi Minh and President Sukarno, and nurtured and developed bygenerations of leaders and peoples of the two countries.

The two countries share manysimilarities. Both are members of the ASEAN, APEC and many other regional andinternational organizations and forums. Indonesia is Vietnam’s importantpartner with great potential, and it highly values Vietnam’s role and positionas one of the countries with great influence in ASEAN. Vietnam and Indonesiahave signed many cooperation agreements and treaties in various fields. Many bilateralcooperation mechanisms have also been established.

Since 1990, the two sideshave exchanged many visits by high-level delegations of the two states,government and national assemblies, as well as by businesses and massorganizations. Bilateral relations entered a new stage with the historicalvisit by President Suharto in November 1990. In June 2013, during the Vietnam visitby President Megawati, the two countries signed a joint statement on theframework of friendly and comprehensive cooperation in the 21st centuryas well as an agreement on the demarcation of boundaries on the continentalshelves. In the official visit to Indonesia by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dungin September 2011, the two sides issued a joint communiqué, declaring to pushbilateral relations towards the strategic partnership. During the state-levelvisit by President Truong Tan Sang in June 2013, the two sides issued a jointstatement, officially established the bilateral strategic partnership. In Augustlast year, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong paid an official visit toIndonesia, becoming the first Vietnamese Party leader to come to the countryand ushering in a new chapter in the history of the bilateral relations.

In recent years, tradebetween the two countries has seen encouraging progress. Two-way trade value roseto 5.6 billion USD in 2016 from 4.6 billion USD in 2012. The figure in the 2017further increased to 6.5 billion USD and 4.7 billion USD for the first sevenmonth of this year, while the two sides are striving to bring it to 10 billionUSD in 2020. Vietnam’s main exports to Indonesia include rice, crude oil,cement, electronic components and farm produce, and its main imports from the countryare fertilizer, gasoline, packaging material, machinery, fabrics, paper andconfectionery.

In June 1989, the two sidesofficially launched the Vietnam – Indonesia air route. Many of Indonesian firmshave come to Vietnam to explore investment opportunities. As of June this year,Indonesia remained as the 5th largest among the ASEAN countries andthe 30th largest among the 126 countries and territories worldwide investingin Vietnam with 71 projects and a total capital of 514 million USD, mostly inoil and gas exploration and exploitation, coal mining, banking, hotel industry,wood processing and exporting, and garment.

Indonesia is among theearliest countries to establish security – defence relations with Vietnam. Thetwo sides have exchanged many delegations and implemented bilateral cooperationin the fields of training officers and search-and-rescue activities. They havealso made efforts to broaden cooperation in executive, legislative, justice,cultural, sport and fishery spheres.

The visit by PresidentWidodo will take place in the context that the Vietnam – Indonesia strategic partnershiphas recorded new progress since the official visit to Indonesia by Party leaderNguyen Phu Trong in August 2017, and serve as an important focus that helpsorient the bilateral cooperation in the new stage five years after theestablishment of the strategic partnership.-VNA