Indonesia-Singapore Celebrate 50th Bilateral Relation Anniversary

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia is seeking to strengthen its relations with Singapore following the visit of Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi to Singapore on Friday, marking the 50th anniversary of the two countries bilateral relations this year. 

Retno Marsudi met Singapores Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore on Friday.

"During my visit, besides launching a series of activities related to the 50th anniversary of Indonesia-Singapore diplomatic relations, I also exchanged the ratification instrument for an agreement between the two countries on sea border determination along the east of Singapore Strait," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs official website quoted Minister Marsudi as having said on Friday.

With the exchange of ratification instrument, only a small part of the maritime border remains to be settled by the two countries.

A series of activities such as an interfaith dialogue, a business forum, a music and fashion festival, and a fun run will be held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Indonesia-Singapore bilateral relations.

Minister Marsudi said the bilateral ties were in a good shape following the intensive economic relationship and good communication between the two countries.

"The economic relations between the two countries are very intensive, though there is still room for improvement, for example through the establishment of the Kendal industry area in November 2016," Marsudi added.

During the meeting, both ministers also discussed ways to follow-up on the several agreements concluded at the Leaders Retreat in Semarang and explored opportunities to improve cooperation in Batam, Bintan and Karimun.

Both the ministers also emphasized the importance of enhancing cooperation in countering terrorism threats, drugs abuse and human trafficking. 

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN.

"Indonesia is committed to making sure that ASEAN continues to contribute towards peace, stability and welfare in the region," Marsudi stressed.

Statistics show that Singapore is the 5th largest trading partner of Indonesia after China, US, Japan and India.

Until October 2016, the trade volume of Indonesia-Singapore had clocked US$20.9 billion while Singapores investment in Indonesia reached US$9.2 billion in 1,932 projects.

As for tourism, as many as 1,519,430 Singaporeans had visited Indonesia in 2015.

ANTARA