Abu Dhabi/Jakarta: The UAE and Indonesia on Wednesday stressed the need for the international community to redouble its efforts to achieve peace and security.
This call came during talks between His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.
Earlier, Widodo received Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. The Abu Dhabi Crown Prince was accorded an official reception ceremony at Bogor Palace where he received a 21-gun salute and inspected a guard of honour.
In their meeting, Sheikh Mohamed and Widodo discussed ways to enhance cooperation in the investment, economic, cultural, developmental and agricultural fields.
“Sheikh Zayed’s visit to the friendly Republic of Indonesia in 1990 underscored the great importance the UAE leadership attaches to UAE-Indonesian relations. These relations have witnessed growth and progress in various fields, and there is an Emirati vision for further developing these relations in the next stage,” Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed said.
“Economic relations between the two countries have a lot of opportunities and elements of development and prosperity, which is important to invest in.”
Widodo welcomed Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed to Indonesia and stressed his country’s keenness to strengthen its relations with the UAE.
He called on UAE investors to take advantage of investment opportunities in Indonesia, stressing his government’s strong political will to encourage them.
Both leaders highlighted the importance of consolidating and spreading the values of tolerance, cooperation and co-existence to foster security, stability and progress.
UAE-Indonesia ties span over 40 years
Milestones
1977: Indonesia’s second president Mohammad Suharto visits the UAE.
1978: Indonesian embassy established in Abu Dhabi.
May 1990: Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan visits Jakarta as UAE’s President.
June 1991: UAE embassy established in Jakarta.
February 2003: Indonesian consulate general opens in Dubai.
2015: Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo visits the UAE.
Trade and investment
Bilateral trade between the UAE and Indonesia reached $3.7 billion in 2017. In November 2017, Masdar and Indonesian power company PT Pembangkitan Jawa-Bali signed a $2.7 billion project for the world’s largest floating solar photovoltaic power plant. Last year, Indonesia’s National Standardisation Agency and National Accreditation Committee signed a $5.5 billion agreement with Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology to develop technical cooperation in the halal food industry. In May, the Indonesian government became the largest sukuk issuer on Nasdaq Dubai.
105,000
Indonesians estimated to live and work in the UAECultural exchange
An estimated 105,000 Indonesians live and work in the UAE. In December 2017, Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, attended the fourth annual ‘Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies’ in Abu Dhabi.
Development and humanitarian aid
The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development provided Dh50.8 million funding for the Bandung Power Distribution project that began in 1977.
In 2018, Dubai’s International Humanitarian City facilitated the delivery of 92 metric tonnes of aid to Indonesians affected by the Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami.
In March, Dubai Cares, in partnership with Save the Children, announced that it would engage in a $1 million programme to restore schooling in Indonesia’s Sulawesi region.
— With inputs from WAM
