London (ANTARA) - Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto embarked on a visit to Vienna, Austria, to hold a meeting with his Austrian counterpart, Klaudia Tanner, at the office of the Austrian Ministry of Defense on Tuesday.
The agenda of Subianto’s visit was to boost bilateral cooperation in the defense sector between both nations, the Indonesian Embassy in Vienna noted in a statement received by Antara London on Wednesday.
A military honor ceremony by the Austrian Armed Forces was held to greet Subianto, who was accompanied by Indonesian Ambassador to Austria Dr Darmansjah Djumala, member of the Indonesian House of Representatives' Commission I Sugiono, and Defense Attaché of the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin Col. Kav. Rio Hendrawan Alin Putra.
During the hour-long meeting, both defense ministers discussed opportunities to boost bilateral cooperation in the field of defense.
Cooperation opportunities can be evaluated further by establishing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as an umbrella agreement for defense cooperation between both nations in future.
Apart from discussing defense issues, both ministers also shared information on developments in the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in their respective countries.
Retired General Subianto had earlier paid a five-day visit to the US, starting Oct 15, 2020, his first since the US lifted its entry ban on him.
Subianto visited the United States at the US government’s invitation to discuss ways to bolster defense cooperation between the two countries.
A senior US defense official strongly defended the decision to welcome Prabowo to the Pentagon, where he met Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Reuters reported.
“Minister Prabowo is the appointed minister of defense of the now twice duly elected president of Indonesia, which is the third-largest democracy in the world,” the official stated while speaking on condition of anonymity.
“He is our counterpart of a very important partnership, and it is important that we engage with him and treat him as a partner,” the official was quoted as saying by Reuters.
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