Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano has had an interview with Indonesian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahendra Siregar. The meeting allowed to take stock of the excellent state of bilateral relations and highlighted the common wish for a further strengthening of relations especially in the defence, agriculture, environment and energy sectors.
As the first ASEAN economy in terms of size, Indonesia is an important partner in Italian strategies to strengthen relations between Italy and South Eastern Asia. Among the issues raised during the meeting, Covid-19 emergency and the importance of a constant exchange of information and experiences at global level, such as the “Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator”.
“Indonesia – the Undersecretary underlined – presents several interesting areas of collaboration at regional and bilateral level for Italy that we want to grasp, with an increasingly proactive policy towards the countries of South-Eastern Asia and Jakarta.
The solid foundations of our relations, which start from an exchange of 3.1 billion dollars in 2019 and cement on a stable friendship between the two peoples, must be further developed in all sectors, starting with those of energy, defence industry, urban development, logistics, maritime cooperation, agribusiness and the world of innovative start-ups”.
Mr Di Stefano and Mr Siregar finally recalled the importance of regional cooperation, and the role of facilitator that both countries can play in relations with ASEAN and the EU.
