Indonesia Enhances Cooperation with Angola
Angolan FM Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti.
Jakarta, 14 Rajab 1438/11 April 2017 (MINA) – Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi and her Angolan counterpart Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti have agreed to step up relations between the two countries in various fields.
“During the meeting with Angolas foreign affairs minister, I discussed several issues. The first was the effort to increase trade cooperation,” Antara quoted Minister Marsudi as saying after receiving a bilateral visit from her Angolan counterpart here on Tuesday.
Minister Marsudi underlined that although the trade volume between the two countries had increased during the 2011-2015 period, last years trade value had declined due to the fall in global oil prices.
The trade value between Indonesia and Angola in 2016 had reached only US$192.8 million.
“Hence, Indonesia highlighted that the two countries could outline the efforts needed to improve trade cooperation,” Marsudi stated.
Indonesia has proposed the establishment of a preferential trade agreement that received a positive response from the Angolan finance minister.
Indonesia has been exporting several commodities to Angola, such as crude palm oil, motor vehicles, cosmetics, paper, and footwear.
Marsudi remarked that Indonesia is also ready to renew several cooperation agreements in the energy sector, such as the cooperation between PT Pertamina and Sonangol and the cooperation on capacity building between PT Badak NGL and Angola LNG.
The two countries have also agreed to intensify technical cooperation in agriculture and marine and fishery as well as to hold international conferences, Marsudi pointed.
Potential market for Indonesian products of strategic industry
Angola is a potential market for products of Indonesias strategic industry that are offered by the state-owned weapons manufacturer PT Pindad, state-owned shipyard PT Pal, states aerospace company PT DI, and Indonesias Railway Company PT Inka.
“You have potential in the strategic industry. You have the rail and train industry, and you have potential in aerial defense products that can be of interest to us,” Angolan Minister of Foreign Affairs Chikoti pointed out.
Minister Chikoti was scheduled to visit PT Pindad and PT DI during his trip to Indonesia.
During the bilateral meeting, the two ministers signed three memoranda of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the two countries.
The first MoU is an agreement on visa exemption for the holders of diplomatic or service passports.
The second agreement was for cooperation in the economic, scientific, technical, and cultural areas.
The last agreement was a MoU on political consultation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia and the Ministry of External Relations of the Republic of Angola.
Indonesia has also lauded the Angolan governments plan to open an embassy in Jakarta and its support to Indonesias candidacy of the United Nations Security Council for the 2019-2020 period. (T/RS5/RS1)
Mi’ra jIslamic News Agency (MINA)
