Pakistan, Indonesia pledge boost in trade, cooperation across key sectors

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Tuesday agreed to enhance bilateral trade, expand cooperation in health, agriculture, Information Technology, science, and education, and deepen coordination on regional and global issues, including Palestine.

In a joint presser along with President Subiato at the PM House, PM Shehbaz said Pakistan and Indonesia were committed to boosting bilateral trade, which currently stood at US$4.5 billion, noting that over 90 percent of the total trade comprised of palm oil import from Indonesia to Pakistan.

He assured the Indonesian president that Pakistan would work closely with Indonesia to achieve the decided targets.

The PM also offered to send doctors, dentists, medical professors, and other health experts to Indonesia to help meet the needs of Indonesian medical universities and hospitals.

President of Indonesia receives guard of honour at Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad

“I want to assure you that whatever is possible for us in this regard, we will do it without any delay,” the PM said.

The premier also appreciated the country’s unwavering stand on Gaza, saying that Indonesia’s support had “resulted in peace in that part of the world.”

“By the grace of god, bloodshed has stopped. However, Israel’s ceasefire violations continue,” the PM noted.

Moreover, the premier was confident that the visit of the Indonesian president would take the brotherly relations to a much higher level.

He emphasized that they would work together to promote progress and peace, not only for their own countries but for the entire region.

In his address, President Subianto thanked the government and people of Pakistan for the warm reception, adding that his meeting with PM Shehbaz was productive and resulted in agreements across several areas of cooperation, including trade, education, agriculture, science and technology.

“We have common values, we have common interests; we are both maybe the biggest Muslim countries in the world.

But our Islam is moderate Islam, which promotes inclusivity, tolerance.”

He thanked the premier and the government for expressing willingness to send doctors, dentists, medical professionals and other related experts to Indonesia to fulfill its requirements in the field of health.

He also said that he had instructed his ministers to expedite the rebalancing of Pakistan-Indonesia trade relations “in practical terms” and assured the prime minister that “we want to move as fast as possible in all these fields”.

Pakistan, Indonesia sign MoUs

Moreover, the PM and Indonesian president witnessed the signing of seven Memorandums of Understanding and Agreements to further enhance bilateral cooperation in diverse fields.

The MoUs and agreements include cooperation in higher education, a grant program for Indonesian state scholarships, facilitation of business development for small and medium enterprises, collaboration between national archives, narcotics control and cooperation in preventing and combating illicit drug trafficking, cooperation in Halal trade and certification, and cooperation in the field of health, as per Radio Pakistan.