REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The governments of Indonesia and the United Kingdom have agreed to improve cooperation in the efforts to stop terror financing.

The commitment was made during a bilateral meeting between Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and her British counterpart Boris Johnson in London on Thursday (July 13).

Both ministers have the same view that international cooperation to prevent the flow of funds for any terrorist activity needs to be carried out, considering the increasing threat of terrorism in various parts of the world.

Retno also added that currently terrorist groups were regionalized due to the growing number of local terrorists groups affiliated with ISIS.

To that end, she affirmed that international cooperation, including strengthening the legal rules related to terrorism, has become important.

"Terrorism threat can only be overcome through effective international cooperation," Retno noted.

In the bilateral meeting, she also mentioned about the nomination of Indonesia as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the period 2019-2020, which was positively acknowledged by Johnson who stated that Indonesia had been playing an active role in contributing and maintaining peace in the region and in the world.

Moreover, Retno expressed hope that the British government could simplify the process of granting visas for Indonesian citizens.

She revealed that the number of Indonesian citizens visiting the UK in 2016 increased by 40 percent, reaching 42 thousand people, compared to the previous year.

In contrast, UK is Europe's largest contributor to tourists to Indonesia, with the number of tourists reaching 328 thousand people in 2016.

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