Indonesia, UK FMs meet on bilateral ties

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa received a working visit of his British counterpart, William Hague, in Marty's office here on Wednesday, discussing various ways aimed at enhancing bilateral relations between the two nations. Speaking at a joint press conference, Marty said that the meeting discussed various arrays of cooperation that have been built between the two governments, with the two ministers agree to identify more sectors that can be worked on to nurture bilateral relations. "Indonesia and the United Kingdom saw increasingly strong bilateral relations following the visit of President Yudhoyono to UK in the same year in response to the state visit of UK Prime Minister David Cameron in 2012. Since then we saw significant growth of bilateral relations in Education, trade, investment, environment, democracy promotion and religious tolerance," Marty said at the press conference. The Indonesian foreign minister said that talks between the two ministers have been very productive, particularly on further cooperation in environment sector. The two ministers also discussed several issues developed in the Asia pacific and in the region and the efforts to advance prosperity in those regions. "Indonesia and the United Kingdom are very strong partners in the promotion of sustainable development. In the bilateral and multilateral domains we are fellow members of G20. We have been closely working together in High Level Panel on the Post 2015 Development Agenda," Marty added. The High Level Panel on the Post 2015 Development Agenda was endorsed by the United Nations, tasked to define the future of global development framework after the completion Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, along with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf were selected to co-chair the panel. In his remarks, UK Foreign Affairs Minister William Hague said Indonesia is an very important player in regional and global prosperity and security, adding that UK would be a strong supporter of Indonesia's efforts. He said that bilateral relations between the two nations has been increasingly important as many bilateral agreements have been signed by officials of the two countries in various sectors. "2013 was a great year as we saw 22 bilateral agreements were signed during that year," William said. The United Kingdom has been among top five investors in Indonesia in the last few years. According to data issued by Indonesian trade ministry, two-way trade between the two countries stood at 3 billion U.S. dollars last year with bilateral trade continues to grow in the last five years with average growth of 5. 6 percent.