Joko Widodo Begins Landmark European Tour

Joko Widodo Begins Landmark European Tour

April 19, 2016 – Indonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday kicked off his week-long visit to Europe, with strengthening trade ties and intelligence-sharing on his agenda.

Mr Widodo will be meeting the three leaders of the European Union – the President of the European Council and the heads of the European Parliament and European Commission.

His visit will see him travel across Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands. His trip to Amsterdam will be the first time in 16 years an Indonesian President has set foot in the Dutch capital.

As the first country to have a Comprehensive Partnership Agreement with Europe, Indonesia is looking to boost its economic and strategic ties through a number of business deals that are expected to take place on the trip, with emphasis on the maritime and investment industries.

“Once again I want to point out data which demonstrates that our relationship with the European Union is relatively strong,” said Retno Marsudi, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister. “For example, our numbers for bilateral trade in 2015 stood at US$26.4 billion.”

The President will also be giving a keynote speech at the Indonesia-German Business Forum, with a number of business leaders from Germany expected to attend the speech.

Mr Widodo will also potentially meet with CEOs from leading Germany companies on a one-to-one basis. The issues of intelligence sharing in counter-terrorism and terrorism cooperation will also be brought up during his trip.