D-8 current Chairman, President Yudhoyono of Indonesia, visits Iran: Enhancing Economic Cooperation
Tehran, Iran | March 11, 2008 by
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife Ani Yudhoyono arrived at Mehrabad Airbase in Iran at 16.30 local time to embark on a two-day state visit until Wednesday (March 12), to hold talks with top Iranian officials on ways to better improve bilateral relations. Yudhoyono is also expected to discuss a $2 billion agreement with Iran on building an oil refinery with a capacity of 200,000 barrels per day in the Banten province of Indonesia.
Decsending the stairs of a Garuda Indonesia Airbus 330-300 the President was greeted by Indonesian Ambassador to Iran Iwan Wiranataatmadja and Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Soleymani as well as a number of Indonesian embassy officials.
The president and entourage were later escorted to the Joumhouri Palace where he stays during his visit to Iran. On Tuesday (Mar 11), the President will meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Presidential Palace.
The arrival of President Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace will be preceded by a state ceremony in which President Yudhoyono will inspect a guard of honor.At 10.00 the two heads of state will have a tete-a-tete meeting which will be followed by a meeting between the delegations of the two sides.
Later the two presidents will witness the signing of five memoranda of understanding (MoUs), namely on agricultural cooperation, education, a shareholder`s agreement between Indonesian state oil company PT Pertamina, the Oil Refining Industries Developing Company (ORIDC), and Petrofield Refining Company Ltd, a cooperation agreement between the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and an Iranian mining company, and an MoU between the Iran Central Chamber of Cooperatives and thhe Indonesian Cooperatives Council.
After that President Yudhoyono and party will visit the Office the Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini for an exchange of views and thoughts for about 45 minutes. On Wednesday morning (Mar 12) President Yudhoyono and entourage will leave for Dakar, Senegal, to attend the 11th summit of the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO).
The Presidential entourage include Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, Minister/State Secretary Hatta Rajasa, Minister of Trade Mari E Pangestu, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Representatives Council Irman Gusman, and legislators Arief Mudatsir Mandan and Mutamminul Ula.
President Yudhoyono is visiting Iran to reciprocate Iranian President Ahmadinejad`s visit to Jakarta in May 2006, during which President Ahmadinejad proposed an energy agreement estimated at $4 billion, and invited President Yudhoyono to visit Iran. Both sides reiterated their intention to boost bilateral trade cooperation.
Trade between Indonesia and Iran continued to increase in the last five months. In 2007, in January through October, the trade reached 409,454.5 US dollars, with Indonesia`s exports worth 347,835.1 US dollars and imports 61,619.4 US dollars.
President Ahmadinejad: Tehran-Jakarta cooperation benefits Islamic world
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran and Indonesia have common interests and viewpoints in the Islamic world and international arena, so expansion of cooperation between Tehran and Jakarta benefits both nations, Islamic world and human community.
According to the report of Iranian Presidential Office Information Center on Saturday (Mar 8), President Ahmadinejad, after receiving new Indonesian ambassador credentials, said the two countries can play an important role in the international arena.
He added, “Iran has no limitation to developing ties with Indonesia and energy, science, industry and trade are among fields for expanding bilateral relations.”
The new Indonesian Ambassador to Tehran Iwan Wiranataatmadja, for his part, called mutual relations in a high level and developing and underlined, “Indonesia desires to increase ties and cooperation and use Iran’s valuable experiences in different fields, including energy.” He expressed hope that during his tenure, he would be able to develop Tehran Jakarta relations.
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