Chinese, Indonesian presidents meet in Singapore

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-13 22:42

SINGAPORE: Chinese President Hu Jintao met here with his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting.

Hu said China is ready to work with Indonesia to proceed from a strategic height and a long-term view to continually advance their strategic partnership.

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Hu congratulated the Indonesian people for their achievements in overcoming the impact of natural disasters and realizing economic and social development. He said China will continue to support Indonesia in its national construction and rehabilitation of the disaster-stricken areas.

China is willing to see Indonesia play a greater role on the international stage, the Chinese president said.

Hu emphasized that China and Indonesia, which established diplomatic ties 60 years ago, are friendly neighbors and major developing countries in the Asia Pacific region.

The development of bilateral links over the past six decades has proven that expanding friendly cooperation not only conforms with the basic interests of the two countries, but also is conducive to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.

While the international situation is currently under profound and complicated changes, Hu said, both China and Indonesia are in a critical stage of development and are faced with challenges and opportunities for cooperation.

Susilo said China has played an important role in promoting the recovery of the world economy against the background of the international financial crisis. He said Indonesia and China have witnessed sound development of their strategic partnership and have enjoyed smooth progress in trade, economics, investment and energy.

The Indonesian president thanked China for its support and assistance to the development and construction of Indonesia. He said the Indonesia people have enjoyed tangible results of bilateral cooperation.

During the meeting, Hu put forward four suggestions on further advancing bilateral relations.

Firstly, Hu said the two countries should deepen mutual trust in the political area and leaders of the two countries should maintain close contact so as to have prompt and extensive exchanges of opinions on major issues. He suggested an early signing of the strategic partnership action plan in order to enhance the level of their bilateral strategic cooperation.

Secondly, Hu said the two countries should step up trade and economic cooperation. He said the two sides should actively tap their potential and fully utilize the advantage of complementarity of the two economies in a bid to promote the recovery of bilateral trade. Hu said China is ready to take an active part in Indonesia's infrastructure development.

Thirdly, Hu said the two countries should expand personnel exchanges. He said the two sides should utilize next year's 60th anniversary of their establishment of diplomatic ties to consolidate the social foundation of the China-Indonesia friendly relations.

The Chinese president suggested that the two countries hold a series of commemorative activities, enhance exchanges at all levels and between various government departments and lend strong support to exchanges between various sectors of the society. He said the two sides should work together to secure a long-term and healthy development of their bilateral links.

Fourthly, Hu said the two countries should have even closer cooperation on multilateral issues. He said the two sides should enhance coordination and cooperation in multilateral arena such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the Group of 20. That's to make due contributions to the development of a fair and rational international political and economic order and safeguard the rightful interests of developing countries.

Susilo fully agreed with Hu's suggestions. He said Indonesia is ready to maintain high-level contacts and continually strengthen exchange with China in such areas as politics, defense and education.

The Indonesian president expressed the wish to expand trade and economic cooperation with China, especially in the areas of infrastructure and agriculture.

He also said Indonesia is ready to strengthen cooperation with China in multilateral mechanisms in a bid to safeguard the common interests of both countries and the international community.

Susilo said ASEAN countries are willing to strengthen cooperation with China so as to realize common development.

He said the Indonesian people are sincerely grateful to China for its prompt and selfless assistance when their country was stricken by earthquakes.