Jokowi, PM Shinzo Abe Discuss Opportunities Amidst ASEAN Summit

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo amidst the ASEAN Summit on Monday, November 4, in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Present at the meeting were the PM’s special advisor Hiroto Izumi and Eiichi Hasegawa, while Indonesia was represented by the Foreign Affairs Minister Retno. L.P. Marsudi. 

Jokowi, according to the official release, opened the meeting by offering his condolences for the victims of Hagibis storm and also congratulated Japan for the new Emperor’s enthronement. 

From the business relations aspect, the president said Indonesia intends to continue the existing partnership with Japan in terms of the construction of MRT, Java Island’s northern railway project, and the construction of Port Patimban. 

Responding to this, PM Shinzo Abe not only expressed gratitude for the MRT’s success in serving its people but also hopes that the partnership does not end there and continues to MRT projects in Indonesia’s East-West railway. 

The two parties also agreed to improve their partnership with BAKAMLA in 2020 and financial funding for improved policy and disaster mitigation. The Japanese PM also mentioned the plans to build Blok Masela’s Lapangan Abadi projected by INPEX Corporation. 

The brief meeting that lasted roughly 20-minutes also agreed on the start of a long term partnership to repatriate the remains of Japanese war soldiers that perished in the Second World War over Indonesian grounds. 

TEMPO.CO