Indonesian Foreign Minister Kicks Off Africa Visit in Algeria to Discuss Economic Cooperation

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Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi paid a one-day bilateral visit to Algeria (20/12). During the visit, the Indonesian Foreign Minister held a bilateral meeting with the Algerian Foreign Minister and paid an honorary visit to the Algerian President.

This year marks 60 years of bilateral relations between Indonesia and Algeria. The Foreign Minister's visit to Algeria is used to strengthen cooperation, especially trade and investment cooperation.

Algeria is among Indonesia's top 5 trading partners in Africa. The volume of trade between the two countries continues to increase by 15.77% per year.

In the meeting with Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmad Attaf, the Foreign Minister was also accompanied by 3 Pertamina CEOs. The issues discussed in the meeting were:

Firstly, trade cooperation.

"Indonesia wants to increase trade cooperation with Algeria in a balanced and sustainable manner. During the meeting, I encouraged Algeria to establish a preferential trade agreement (PTA)," the Indonesian Foreign Minister said.

Second, energy cooperation.

Indonesia and Algeria are close partners for energy cooperation. Both Foreign Ministers welcomed the recent signing of the MoU on Energy and Mining.

"This MoU is expected to strengthen G2G cooperation and promote B2B cooperation and investment in the energy sector," the foreign ministers said.

Pertamina has been a partner in the development of Algeria's oil and gas sector. This commitment is also manifested by the realisation of sustainable investment. Pertamina plans to invest another 900 million USD until 2048 in Algeria's energy sector, including in refining and decarbonisation.

"Indonesia also expects to expand economic cooperation outside the oil sector, including cooperation projects in the fields of electricity, mining and renewable energy," said the Foreign Minister.

Third, bilateral cooperation mechanisms.

The two foreign ministers have agreed to reactivate bilateral mechanisms, including the Ministerial Level Joint Commission Meeting and Senior-Level Official Bilateral Consultation. Indonesia will host both meetings in Jakarta next year.

Fourth, regional and global issues.

The two Foreign Ministers discussed at length the situation in Gaza. Indonesia and Algeria have the same position regarding Palestine, which condemns Israel's continued atrocities against civilians and encourages an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian assistance, and the resumption of the peace process towards a two-state solution based on agreed international parameters.

"We agreed to continue working together to defend justice and humanity for the Palestinian people. As the next non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, I also express my hope that Algeria will continue to bring the interests of the Palestinian people to the UN Security Council," Retno said.

Regarding regional cooperation, Retno welcomed Algeria's desire to join the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC).

In addition, the two Foreign Ministers agreed to support each other in multilateral forums to promote the interests of developing countries.

Meanwhile, during a courtesy call to the Algerian President, the Foreign Ministers discussed economic cooperation, including the establishment of PTA and Indonesia's investment in Algeria's energy sector.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia.