Indonesian President Joko Widodo (R) and visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during a welcome ceremony at Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Zulkarnain)
JAKARTA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo and visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed on Wednesday to expand bilateral relations into comprehensive strategic partnership with MoU on bilateral cooperation in wider arrays signed.
Speaking in a joint press conference with Modi after a tete-a-tete meeting, Widodo said that the two nations were now strategic partners emphasized in economy and trade sectors.
"That is why we have agreed to expand our bilateral relations into Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which would not only bringing benefit to bilateral ties, but also to regional stabilization and prosperity," Widodo said.
The initiative to uplift the bilateral relations was ultimately marked with the document renewals on two nation's existing cooperations in defense and medical drug productions, Widodo said at the presidential palace.
The renewal documents were part of 15 MoU documents signed by ministers and related officials of the two countries, covering cooperation sectors like outer space exploration, train transport, science and technology, cultural and tourism.
Widodo said that India is Indonesia's largest trade partner in South and Central Asia region with two-way trade between the two countries increasing significantly in the last several years.
The president said that Indonesia and India also agreed to make bilateral economy cooperation more opened with negotiations on a more comprehensive economic partnership now being progressed, expected to be completed later this year.
In his speech, Indian Prime Minister Modi said that Indian and Indonesian governments have agreed to maximize potentialities from bilateral trade with a target of 50 billion U.S. dollars of two-way trade by 2025 from 18 billion dollars last year.
