Visiting Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi on Monday said her country will play an effective role in resolving the Rohingya crisis.
The visiting Indonesian minister made the remarks while meeting with her Bangladeshi counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in the city. Minister Marsudi said her country is keen to play a more effective role under the preview of regional, bilateral and multilateral fora.
She said Indonesia will enhance bilateral ties with Bangladesh on all fronts and maintain her country’s cooperation in different sectors in the coming days.
During the meeting, both the ministers expressed satisfaction as discussion over the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) will begin this month.
They expected that the PTA between the two friendly nations will be signed very soon.
Dr Momen urged his Indonesian counterpart to quicken the approval for setting up Bangabandhu Satellite Career Monitoring System in Jakarta.
This monitoring system will help people of different countries of the region to benefit from the satellite, he said.
The Indonesian Foreign Minister arrived in Dhaka on Sunday night on a one-day official visit.
She came to Bangladesh to greet Sheikh Hasina on her re-election as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the fourth term.
Minister Marsudi left Dhaka on Monday night wrapping up her one-day visit to Bangladesh.
Indonesia and Bangladesh historically enjoy a strong and complementary economic bilateral relationship that grows every year.
The volume of the bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $1.67 billion in 2017, with Indonesia’s export amounting to $1.596 billion.
For further enhancement of economic engagements, Indonesia is showing its keenness to sign the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Bangladesh.
The friendly nation also wants to start direct air flight between Dhaka and Jakarta to boost bilateral trade, especially the tourism sector.
Indonesian investors are also eager to invest in agriculture, IT, leather, infrastructure and tourism sectors in Bangladesh.
They have shown strong interest in investment and joint ventures in various sectors, including energy, logistics and support, hotel and property, transportation, infrastructure and animal feed.
As the banking system is one of the most important tools for bilateral trade as financing for trade and investment is something that needs serious attention, both the countries can ink an agreement for a more robust banking system to facilitate international trade.
Indonesia has long been granting visa-free facility to Bangladeshi passport holders to visit the South East Asian nation.