Manmohan Singh arrives in Jakarta

JAKARTA. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday evening, for a state visit, an official has confirmed.

“He will arrive late tonight,” N.Ramakrisnhan, Press Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Thursday evening. PM Singh is scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during the visit.

Presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah said in a ress statement in Jakarta, on Thursday, that President Yudhoyono was scheduled to receive PM Singh on Friday.

The visit is Singh’s second visit after he visited Indonesia in 2011 to attend the ASEAN Summit in Bali.

Faizasyah said that during the bilateral meeting, President Yudhoyono and his Indian counterpart, PM Singh, would discuss joint efforts to increase bilateral relations between the two countries. Several issues in the region that are of common concern between the two countries would also be discussed in the meeting.

On many issues, he said, Indonesia and India shared similar concerns. Moreover, Indonesia and India had worked out strategic partnerships in several fields.

Therefore, Faizasyah said, it could be anticipated that issues that would be discussed between the two leaders would include joint efforts to increase bilateral partnerships in the fields of economics, defense, and energy.

These fields were crucial aspects of the bilateral cooperation within the framework of the Indonesia-India strategic partnership.

“A string of visits by international leaders to Indonesia in less than two weeks has shown a strong commitment by friendly countries to develop cooperation with Indonesia,” said Faizasyah.

He said Indonesia’s readiness to welcome the visiting leaders in the midst of President Yudhoyono’s tight schedule in attending the APEC Summit in Bali and the ASEAN Summit in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, showed a similar strong commitment by Indonesia.

Through the visit, Faizasyah said it was hoped that Indonesia’s relations with India could strengthen further, including in realizing several cooperation schemes within the strategic partnership framework. (The Jakarta Post)