The G20 Summit must produce concrete cooperation, President Joko Widodo emphasized during a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan here on Monday.
"Thank you for being here at the G20 Summit. For Indonesia, the G20 must be able to produce concrete cooperation," Widodo added.
Touching upon bilateral relations, he called for Indonesia and Turkey to speed up negotiations on their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which includes a major trade deal, so that it can be completed soon.
"We must instruct the negotiators so that (they can) find a solution for the existing obstacles, and can be accepted by both parties, thus the agreement is completed immediately," the President said.
Progress has been observed in Indonesia and Turkey's bilateral relations, with the signing of several strategic government-to-government and business-to-business agreements, he noted.
According to the Presidential Secretariat, the two countries, represented by each country's minister, inked agreements shortly before Widodo and Erdogan’s meeting. The agreements cover the fields of defense, forestry, environment, research, technology and innovation, and development.
Meanwhile, the cooperation between business actors includes electric bus production in Indonesia as well as the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road construction.
Turkey is seen as a strategic area because it could serve as an entry point for Indonesian products into the European market, Indonesia's House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Rachmat Gobel said during a meeting with Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology, Mustafa Varank, on September 14.
"We also need to learn much from Turkey, particularly its defense industry," Gobel noted.
At the meeting, President Widodo was accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto; Minister for Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi; Minister of Defense, Prabowo Subianto; Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan; Ambassador of Indonesia to Turkey, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal; and director general of America and Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Umar Hadi.
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Editor : Mahdani
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