Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi met President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) at the Merdeka Palace here on Monday to discuss the agenda of his planned visit to Australia expected at the end of this month.
“This is actually a return visit, made upon the invitation of Prime Minister Turnbull, that had been postponed recently,” the minister revealed.
Marsudi said the meeting between President Jokowi and Prime Minister Turnbull will be the most important agenda to improve bilateral relations.
The minister explained that the relations between Indonesia and Australia were quite close in the trade sector as well as in the areas of investment and education.
However, Marsudi could not as yet elaborate on the agenda of the visit.
Regarding relations between the two countries militaries, she admitted that they had once been affected, but efforts had already been made to improve them.
The minister admitted that it was a strategic sector in the realm of relations between the two countries militaries.
The Indonesian military had earlier temporarily suspended military cooperation with Australia following an incident in which an Australian military member had insulted Indonesias state ideology of Pancasila, wherein Panca means five and Sila means principles, by mentioning it as “Pancagila,” gila which in Indonesian means mad.
Apart from the issue and the temporary suspension of military cooperation, President Jokowi and the foreign minister both stated that diplomatic relations between the two countries have not been affected.