China, Indonesia to strengthen medical, maritime cooperation

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) meets with Indonesian government's Coordinator for Cooperation with China Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, January 12, 2021. /Chinese Foreign Ministry

China is willing to strengthen medical and health cooperation with Indonesia and promote the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing and Muslim countries.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks during a meeting with the Indonesian government's Coordinator for Cooperation with China Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan on Tuesday.

Wang said that he hoped the two sides can sign cooperation documents on the Belt and Road Initiative and Global Maritime Fulcrum at an early date and called for more efforts to promote big projects, such as the Jakarta-Bandung highspeed railway and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Corridor.

To inject strong impetus into the economic development of the two countries, Wang stressed cooperation in tourism, agriculture, vocational education and training, and digital economy.

China is willing to import more products from Indonesia and is positive about expanding the scale of bilateral currency swap, Wang added.

In terms of maritime cooperation, he stressed joint efforts in navigation safety, marine scientific research, maritime search and rescue, disaster prevention and mitigation, and environmental protection.

For his part, Luhut said that Indonesia is willing to work with China in these areas and welcomes China to expand investment in his country, adding that Indonesia is looking forward to Chinese electric vehicle companies coming to the country.

He also expressed hope that the two sides would launch a working group on bilateral trade as soon as possible, hold a meeting of the Maritime Cooperation Committee, promote the export of agricultural and fishery products to China, and deepen cooperation in the financial sector.

Prior to the talks, the two sides witnessed the signing of two memorandums of understanding on development of cybersecurity capacity building and technical cooperation, and regional economic and trade cooperation.