RI - U.S. Agree To Strengthen Comprehensive Partnership

Jakarta, Nov 11 (Antara) -- Indonesia (RI) and the United States (U.S) have agreed to enhance bilateral relations under the framework of a comprehensive partnership, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said. The U. S. government remains committed to assisting Indonesia in developing its infrastructure and maritime sectors, the ministry affirmed in a press statement released on Tuesday. The commitment of the U. S. was one of the agreements reached at a meeting between President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Beijing on Monday (November 10). At the meeting, the U. S. expressed hope that Indonesia would continue to play its pivotal role at regional and global levels, including in maintaining stability in the ASEAN region. Jokowi and Obama also discussed efforts to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two nations in priority areas such as investment, manufacturing, access of Indonesian products to the U. S. market and infrastructure development. Furthermore, Jokowi asked the U. S. government to pay special attention to providing access to Indonesian palm oil to its markets to improve the living standard of Indonesian villagers. Obama assured Jokowi of continued U. S. private investment in Indonesia, particularly in the sectors of extraction, mining and minerals. He added that the United States was also paying special attention to environmental issues and hoped Indonesia would play an active role in addressing them as well. Citing an example, Obama noted that the U. S. had assisted Indonesia in developing clean energy through "Millennium Challenge Account Corporation" funds. Indonesia and the United States launched a comprehensive partnership when President Barack Obama visited Jakarta in November 2010. This partnership has fostered consistent high-level engagement in issues related to democracy and civil society, education, security, climate and environment, energy, and trade, among others. The U. S. is Indonesia`s fourth largest trade partner after China, Japan and Singapore, and two-way trade between Indonesia and the United States reached US$24.76 billion last year.