REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi and her Dutch counterpart Stephanus Abraham Blok held a bilateral meeting here on Tuesday. The two discussed efforts to intensify bilateral cooperation in various areas.
"This is Blok's first visit to Indonesia in his capacity as Dutch foreign minister. This our third meeting after the first one in New York in March 2018 and the second in Buenos Aires on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in May the same year," Marsudi remarked.
The third meeting between Marsudi and Blok took place at the Pancasila building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs along the Pejambon Street, Central Jakarta.
On the occasion, Marsudi expressed gratitude to the Dutch government for supporting Indonesia's efforts to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2019-2020 period.
At the bilateral meeting, the two foreign ministers discussed efforts to deepen partnership and economic cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands, one of them being through negotiation on comprehensive economic partnership between Indonesia and the European Union.
"Indonesia and the European Union are currently negotiating a comprehensive economic partnership, which will be finalized soon," Marsudi stated.
In 2018, Indonesia and the Netherlands enter the fifth year of the Joint Declaration on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. In addition, the two foreign ministers discussed security cooperation, particularly efforts to strengthen cooperation against transnational crimes, such as smuggling, drug trafficking, and terrorism.
The Dutch foreign minister stated that both countries face similar challenges related to the issue of terrorism, such as people returning from Syria and Iraq and growing domestic extremism.
"I want to emphasize that the Dutch stand together and work hand-in-hand with Indonesia in an international effort against terrorism," Blok emphasized.
Furthermore, the two ministers discussed efforts to improve people-to-people contacts between Indonesia and the Netherlands, including through cooperation in the field of education.
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