TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia’s Vice President Ma'ruf Amin met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Japan’s Akasaka Palace on Monday, September 26, 2022, on the sidelines of his visit to Japan to attend the state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“We want to tighten the bilateral relationship in various forms of more concrete cooperation,” said Ma'ruf in a press statement before leaving for the funeral on Tuesday, September 27, 2022.

Two months ago, on July 27, President Joko Jokowi Widodo had come to Tokyo and met Fumio Kishida. At that time, the two leaders agreed to finalize the Amendment to the Protocol of the Indonesian-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA).

The meeting between Ma'ruf and Kishida was to resume the previous talks, including IJEPA. “It will be signed at the G20 Summit in November,” said Ma’ruf.

They also discussed the expansion of investment and new investments worth US$5.2 billion in Indonesia’s strategic projects, such as MRT Jakarta, West Papua Industrial Estate, the expansion of Patimban Port and its toll road access, and the Masela Gas Project.

The other talks related to Indonesia's export of agricultural and fishery commodities and the cooperation in the sharia economy and halal industry.

Ma'ruf Amin stated that Indonesia is ready to be Japan's main partner in the halal business. “Such as preparing the Muslim-friendly tourism standards in Japanese tourist destinations and halal certification for Japanese products,” he concluded.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO

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