Jokowi, Cambodia PM Hun Sen Hold Bilateral Talks Following ASEAN Summit

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen after attending the ASEAN Leaders Meeting here on Saturday.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi said the meeting was held at the Multipurpose Room of the ASEAN Secretariat Building.

Marsudi said the two leaders exchanged ideas on how to improve bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Jokowi raised four issues during the bilateral meeting.

"First, regarding health cooperation, the President emphasized the importance of multilateral vaccine support for equal access to vaccines for all countries. The President also invited Cambodia to strengthen cooperation in pharmaceuticals, medicines and medical equipment," she remarked,

The launch of the Dynamic Argon Co Ltd joint venture, which was a collaboration between an Indonesian pharmaceutical company and its partner in Cambodia in 2019, was a good start for health cooperation between the two countries.

Jokowi asked for Hun Sen's support for the expansion of Indonesian state-owned and private investment in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, the second issue was on economic cooperation for economic recovery. Jokowi encouraged efforts to increase the volume of trade between the two countries, among others, by having a direct delivery route between the two countries in which Pelindo II was already exploring the plan.

"Regarding investment, the President of the Republic of Indonesia asks for support so that state-owned companies (BUMNs) and private Indonesians can become major development and investment partners in Cambodia. (Projects such as) railway system, train carriages, and floating power plants constructions, tugboats, and other infrastructure projects in Cambodia could be carried out by Indonesia's BUMNs,"
she said.

Furthermore, the two leaders of the country also discussed defense cooperation.
Jokowi was of the view that bilateral cooperation in defense must be further strengthened, among other things by expanding cooperation between Army to Army and encouraging increased education and training activities for military personnel of the two countries.

Jokowi also voiced a need for a synergy between Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand in which in 2022 the three Southeast Asian countries will become chairmen of a number of organizations. Indonesia will the chair of the G-20, Cambodia the chair of ASEAN, and Thailand the chair of APEC.

Accompanying Jokowi in the bilateral meeting included Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, Retno Marsudi, and Cabinet Secretary, Pramono Anung.

Read: ASEAN Leaders Reach Five-point Consensus on Ending Myanmar Crisis

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