President Vo Van Thuong and President of Indonesia Joko Widodo at the welcoming ceremony, January 12, 2024. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

During his visit, President Widodo laid a wreath in tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum in Hanoi and fallen combatants at the Monument to Heroes and Martyrs in the capital city.

Following the official welcome ceremony, he held talks with President Vo Van Thuong, witnessed the singing of cooperation documents, met with the press and attended a banquet hosted by the Vietnamese leader.

The President had a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and the two leaders co-chaired a high-level business dialogue. He also met with Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue.

At the talks and meetings, the host leaders stressed the importance Vietnam attaches to the traditional relationship and strategic partnership between the two countries.

Indonesia is Vietnam’s third largest trading partner in ASEAN, while Vietnam is Indonesia’s fourth biggest trading partner in the group. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, two-way trade still grew significantly, from 9 billion USD in 2019 to nearly 14 billion USD last year. The two sides aim to increase trade turnover to 18 billion USD by 2028.

For future cooperation orientations, the leaders consented to foster political trust through delegation exchanges and contacts, the effective implementation of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and the early building of the 2024-2028 action program.

Given the significant cooperative outcomes over the past nearly 70 years, the two countries should early lift their strategic partnership to a new level, they said.

The leaders witnessed the exchange of an MoU on cooperation in information and communications technology, and another on cooperation in fishing.