REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LONDON -- The governments of Indonesia and El Salvador have signed an agreement on free visa for officials and service passport holders to boost exchange of officials' visits and bilateral cooperation.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and El Salvador's Foreign Minister Hugo Roger Martinez Bonilla signed the agreement on the sidelines of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) in San Jose, Costa Rica on Friday.
"This agreement will encourage mutual visits of officials of the two countries to increase investment and trade cooperation," Minister Retno was quoted as saying by Enjay Diana of the Eastern and Central European Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Diana told Antara on Saturday that Marsudi always gave top priority to Indonesian economic diplomacy at international forums, adding that Minister Bonilla had also expressed optimism about the future of the two countries' bilateral relations.
Indonesia and El Salvador established diplomatic relations in September 2011. Over the past two years, both countries have already signed two significant agreements boosting bilateral ties.
"I am confident that relations between the two countries will progress further in various fields going forward," Bonilla said.
In 2013, Indonesia and El Salvador signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a bilateral consultation forum. Both sides agreed to hold the first consultation meeting at the end of 2015, or in early 2016.
The consultation meeting is expected to include discussions on the implementation of bilateral cooperation in various sectors, focusing on growing economic relations, trade, communications, education, handling of transnational crime and natural disaster mitigation.
El Salvador is the third largest economy in Central America. It follows an open economic policy for foreign markets and uses the U.S. dollar as its official currency.
It is ranked 12th in Latin America and fourth in Central America on the Human Development Index.
Indonesia-El Salvador trade grew by 24 percent per annum during the 2010 to 2014 period.
In 2014, bilateral trade totaled US$12.25 million, down from US$65.7 million in 2013.
Indonesia's main exports to El Salvador include paper, manufactured goods, rubber, vehicles, chemical products, cotton, handicrafts, electronics goods, electrical appliances and toys. Its imports sugar, tobacco, gum and thread from the Central American nation.
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