President Joko Widodo received an honorary visit from Canadian Foreign Minister (Menlu), Melanie Joly, with a small delegation at Merdeka Palace, Jakarta on Monday, April 11, 2022. Photo: BPMI Setpres/Lukas

President Joko Widodo received an honorary visit from Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly with a small delegation at Merdeka Palace, Jakarta on Monday, April 11, 2022. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Retno Marsudi who accompanied the head of state at the meeting said the Canadian foreign minister conveyed Canada’s support for Indonesia’s G20 presidency.

“During the meeting, Canada’s foreign minister again expressed Canada’s support for the Indonesian presidency,” Retno said in her statement after the meeting.

According to Retno, Canada has also expressed its commitment to continue open communication with Indonesia in order to best prepare the G20 to deal with the difficult situation currently unfolding. Moreover, Retno also added that Indonesia has received similar support from all G20 member countries.

“Therefore, we want this support to materialize, we are working together so that once again the G20 can function optimally in the midst of this difficult situation,” he said.

During the meeting, Indonesia and Canada also discussed economic cooperation between the two countries, considering that Canada is one of Indonesia’s most important trade and investment partners for the northern region. -American. Retno said the value of trade between Canada and Indonesia in 2021 increased quite significantly by almost 30% and the value of investments also increased by almost 4%.

President Jokowi also underscored the importance for the two countries to continue to strengthen cooperative relations in the economic sector, one of which is to intensify negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), whose negotiations started since last March.

“The president said it was necessary to speed up the negotiations,” Retno said.

“In addition, he also discussed cooperation on issues related to clean energy, infrastructure, and others. Canadian investors are interested in continuing to invest in Indonesia,” he said.

State Minister Pratikno and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung also accompanied President Jokowi to the meeting.

(BPMI Setpres)