Indonesian president meets his Afghan counterpart

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a bilateral meeting here on Friday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss means of bolstering bilateral relations. Indonesian Antara news agency quoted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as saying following the meeting which was held on the sidelines of the Bali Democracy Forum in Indonesia, which kicked off in Bali earlier Thursday that there is a lot of potential for increased cooperation between Indonesia and Afghanistan. Speaking to the press after the meeting , President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said: “Afghanistan is finally moving forward, which makes Indonesia believe that the two countries can gain prosperity through cooperation.” “At the meeting, we discussed cooperation in education, culture and economy, among other things. Our respective ministers are now tasked with following up the outcome of the bilateral meeting,” President Yudhoyono said. He stated that Indonesia fully supports the Afghan government in its effort to rebuild the war-ravaged mountainous country. “We have also seen that Afghanistan is stepping forward into the future,” the head of state noted. Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai said Indonesia is an important ally of Afghanistan, adding that the two countries should step up efforts to boost bilateral cooperation. Therefore, he invited Indonesian businessmen to invest in Afghanistan. “With President Yudhoyono, we have discussed expanding of our cooperation in education and infrastructure development. Therefore, we welcome Indonesian investors to our country,” the Afghan president explained. During the meeting , the foreign ministers and education ministers from the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in “education, capacity improvement, diplomats’ training, free visa agreement for diplomats, and exchange of culture.”