President Joko Widodo's visit to Vietnam takes place at a meaningful time when the two countries have just celebrated the 10th anniversary of establishing a strategic partnership in 2023 and are looking forward to major events celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations in 2025.
In 2023, when Indonesia is ASEAN Chair, on the occasion of attending the ASEAN Summits, Vietnamese leaders had discussions with President Joko Widodo on bilateral relations. Through this, it is clear that the determination to "thoroughly" implement the signed documents in practice, creating more momentum to bring the strategic partnership to a new level. Therefore, solutions to concretize cooperation are also the focus of President Widodo's visit to his "friend" ASEAN this time.
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| General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong received Indonesian President Joko Widodo on his first state visit to Vietnam in 2018. (Source: VNA) |
Trust is always reinforced
It can be affirmed that trust is the solid foundation for the two countries to not hesitate to set higher goals, bringing the relationship to an increasingly deeper, more substantial and effective level in all areas of cooperation. That trust has been cultivated over a journey of nearly seven decades with many valuable “firsts” or “uniques”.
First of all, Indonesia was the first country in Southeast Asia to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam on December 30, 1955. The traditional friendship established by President Ho Chi Minh and President Sukarno has been continuously nurtured by generations of leaders and people of the two countries.
Besides, Vietnam is currently Indonesia's only strategic partner in Southeast Asia. With a solid foundation, especially after the establishment of the strategic partnership, the two countries have gradually opened up a space for more comprehensive and extensive cooperation.
The strong development of Vietnam-Indonesia relations in recent times is a clear demonstration of that, demonstrated through high-level visits and contacts such as the phone call between General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Joko Widodo (August 2022), President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's State visit to Indonesia (December 2022), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's three attendances at ASEAN Summits in Indonesia (April 2021, May 2023 and September 2023), National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue's official visit to Indonesia and attendance at AIPA-44 (August 2023)...
The two sides strived to effectively implement the Action Program to implement the Strategic Partnership for the 2019-2023 period, thereby deepening cooperation in many areas. Defense and security cooperation between the two countries was strengthened. Cooperation in other important areas such as agriculture, transportation, local connectivity, people-to-people exchange, etc. was promoted.
$15 Billion Target - Realistic Prospects
Exploiting potential, being worthy of strengths, and building an effective and long-term cooperation framework are the consistent orientations to move the relationship between the two countries forward.
Specifically, in each high-level exchange in recent times, there have been points that have been repeatedly emphasized and become familiar such as: Maintaining trade growth momentum in a more balanced direction; striving to bring bilateral trade turnover to 15 billion USD by 2028; promoting businesses to increase two-way investment, especially in new areas such as digital economy, green economy, energy conversion, and development of electric vehicle ecosystems; Indonesia facilitating agricultural products and Halal products of Vietnamese origin to access the market; cooperating to develop new strategic supply chains...
Mentioned and repeated, therefore, it is difficult to “forget”, many areas of cooperation are increasingly flourishing, creating a bright picture in the context of many fluctuations in the world economy. When reporting on the visit, Nikkei (Japan) said that President Joko Widodo once commented that Vietnam is one of Indonesia’s strategic trade partners, but he “wants to discuss the achieved goals for even better trade”.
In fact, Indonesia became Vietnam's third largest export market and second largest import market in ASEAN in 2023. Bilateral trade turnover last year is estimated at more than 12 billion USD. By the end of November 2023, Indonesia's total investment capital in Vietnam reached 651.21 million USD, with 120 valid projects and ranked 29th out of 143 countries and territories with investment capital in Vietnam. On the other hand, a number of large Vietnamese enterprises and corporations have been present in Indonesia such as FPT, Dien May Xanh... Most notably, Vinfast Global's project with a total expected investment capital of 1.2 billion USD to build an electric vehicle factory in Indonesia with a scale of 50,000 vehicles per year, expected to break ground in the first quarter of 2024 and be completed in 2026.
In terms of rice, Vietnam has always been among the top three countries supplying rice to the Indonesian market. As of November 2023, Vietnam had exported more than 1.1 million tons of rice to Indonesia, worth more than 600 million USD. In terms of seafood and fisheries, the two sides continued to promote recent exchanges on commodity groups such as lobster, tuna, and seaweed.
Faced with these optimistic figures, in an interview with the press, Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Ta Van Thong affirmed that the possibility of achieving the target of 15 billion USD is a very realistic prospect in the next few years. Recognizing the huge potential of the Halal market, Ambassador Ta Van Thong said that the two countries are working to create more favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to obtain Halal certification and penetrate more strongly into the Indonesian market.
Obviously, although the global economy in 2023 and beyond is unpredictable and full of challenges, the two countries still have a strong spirit of action to implement and concretize the goals of Vietnam - Indonesia cooperation into reality, making economic cooperation a bright spot, promoting the framework of bilateral relations to develop deeply, effectively and long-term.
Both countries aim to become developed nations by 2045, the same year as their respective centenary years. Therefore, Vietnam and Indonesia have many opportunities and potentials to promote cooperation to achieve the development goals set by each country, while contributing positively to peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world. Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam Denny Abdi |
For the common prosperity of the region
Vietnam and Indonesia are active members of ASEAN, with roles and positions in the region and the international arena. Over the past time, Indonesia has always appreciated Vietnam's support for its role as ASEAN Chair and AIPA Chair in 2023.
Therefore, it can be affirmed that the close and profound bilateral cooperation relationship not only practically serves the interests of the people of the two countries but also contributes to the prosperity of the common home of ASEAN and, more broadly, to the peace, stability and prosperity of the region as well as the world.
Regarding the East Sea issue, the two countries always affirm their support for maintaining solidarity and ASEAN's agreed principles on the East Sea issue, especially ASEAN and China's early achievement of an effective and efficient COC in accordance with international law and the 1982 UNCLOS.
On the other hand, being a member of the ASEAN “family” will give the two countries many special “privileges”, facilitating the promotion of bilateral cooperation. The two countries’ populations account for 60% of ASEAN’s population with a total of nearly 400 million people. The two countries are both members of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), thus having many advantages to increase two-way trade.
Along with the Philippines and Brunei, Vietnam is one of the three destinations - like three ASEAN "brothers" in this visit of President Joko Widodo. That further shows that in the Vietnam - Indonesia relationship there is ASEAN and in ASEAN there is a Vietnam - Indonesia that is close, sustainable, and cooperates for development for the benefit of not only the two sides but also the "ASEAN boat" that is reaching out to the open sea, for a region of peace, stability and development.
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