Jakarta Governor Sees off VP to Turkey for D-8 Summit

Jakarta, MINA – New governor of Indonesian capital city Jakarta, Anis Baswedan on Wednesday night saw off Vice President Jusuf Kalla who left to attend the Developing Eight (D-8) Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct 20.

The vice presidential plane took off from Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta at 08.15 Western Indonesia Standard Time (WIB) for Ataturk airport in Istanbul, Turkey, about 13 hours of travel.

The vice president will make a stop over in Abu Dhabi, Arab Emirate after the Presidential Aircraft BBJ 2/A- 001 flies for eight hours 30 minutes for refueling for 2 Hours, Antara News reported, citing Husain Abdullah, the vice presidential spokesman.

After that Kalla proceeds to Istanbul which will take four hours 35 minutes, and will arrive at Ataturk airport in Istanbul on Thursday morning.

Abdullah further said that after attending the D-8 summit, Kalla is expected to perform Umrah (minor hajj) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia before returning to Jakarta on Monday (Oct 23).

D-8 is an organization for the development cooperation involving eight developing countries that include Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey.

Turkish Ambassador to Indonesia, Sander Gurbuz, revealed earlier that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will revitalize the D-8 summit to make it more active as it has an important role to play for its members.

Turkey will use the momentum to increase economic cooperation with Indonesia to follow up President Joko Widodo’s visit to that country in July 2017. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MNA)