The talks began in a restricted format. On the Russian side, the talks were attended by Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, First Deputy Prime Minister and co-chair of the Russian-Indonesian Joint Commission on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation Denis Manturov, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
International consultations continued over a working breakfast with the participation of the two countries’ delegations.
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Beginning of Russia-Indonesia talks in restricted format
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon. I am delighted to see you.
Welcome to Russia.
We know you as a good friend of our country. You are not only respected in Indonesia as a prominent military leader but also as a political figure. You have held the post of defence minister for many years. I know that you have developed very good relations with your Russian colleagues.
Russia and Indonesia share a long-standing friendship that began decades ago. Next year, we will mark 75 years of diplomatic relations between our countries.
I would like to note that our trade and economic ties have been developing very well recently. Despite the pandemic and the current developments around Russia, including associated restrictions, our trade has been growing. It has doubled over the past years. This is a very positive trend, which makes us happy. I hope that it will persist.
We also hope that the draft agreement on the EAEU-Indonesia free trade zone, which is ready for signing, will play a positive and substantial role in the development of our trade and economic ties. The EAEU market is very big. The market of Indonesia, with a population of nearly 300 million, is of substantial interest to Russia as well.
We are ready to further increase agricultural deliveries and implement investment projects in energy, transport and infrastructure. It is the responsibility of our intergovernmental commission whose Russian co-chair, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, is attending this meeting. I hope that the situation will further improve thanks to cooperation between our colleagues. The main thing is that both sides have an interest in this.
We also continue to cooperate in the humanitarian sphere. As per tradition, Indonesian students receive education in Russia, including on scholarships funded by the Russian budget, and we are ready to continue doing this. The Russian Centre for Science and Culture is operating in Jakarta. We would like to express our gratitude for supporting its work.
Last but not least, we also coordinate our positions on the international stage, including and primarily within ASEAN.
We are delighted to see you. I would like to once again congratulate you, personally this time, on your election as President of Indonesia. I wish you all the best in serving your country and your people.
Welcome.
President-elect of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto: Thank you very much, Your Excellency.
I would like to thank you for the great honour: you have received me at very short notice.
I have been to Moscow four times in the last four years. This is my fourth time. But it is the first time that I am received by Your Excellency. I bring the best regards from my President, President Joko Widodo. I reported to him that I will visit you and you are going to receive me.
I would like to also congratulate you on being elected once again as President of the Russian Federation.
As you know, we consider Russia as a great friend. And I would like to continue to maintain and enhance this relationship. In our history, we remember that Russia has always helped us in many aspects. When we were in difficulties, Russia helped us. Although at that time it was, of course, the Soviet Union. If you come to Jakarta today, many of the big infrastructure [facilities] were built by Russians, by the Soviet Union. Our parliament house, our national congress, our national stadium, our national monument, our first highway, many bridges in many parts of Indonesia were built by, at that time, the Soviet Union. You also helped us build up our military forces when we were under threat. This is something that we inherit from our parents that we must never forget those who help us.
I have experienced great cooperation as the Minister of Defence with your ministers and your team. I come here to emphasise that I would like to enhance this relationship when I officially take over the presidency of the Republic of Indonesia on the 20th of October, this coming October.
I have had intensive discussions with your team. I met your First Deputy Prime Minister today. I also met senior officials in your industry, in your defence industry. Actually, in the past few months, we have been discussing, quite intensively the roadmap ahead that we would like to increase our cooperation with Russia.
Of course, I have already discussed that my main emphasis, apart from food security, [is on] energy security but also on education. I plan to initiate a massive scholarship programme to send our students outside Indonesia, especially for medical training because we have a shortage of 160,000 medical doctors. So, we would like, if possible, to send some of our young boys and girls to study in Russian universities and technical colleges. I plan to allocate a special budget for these scholarships. We look to Russia as one of the main countries where we would like to send our young boys and girls to study. In fact, in the 1960s, we sent many of our young people to study here. That is about education.
I have been talking to some of your industrialists, and we are open to more Russian participation in our economy in the field of nuclear energy. We have discussed with your institutions, with Rosatom the possibility of cooperating in this field. We are discussing small modular reactors and also main reactors that we are discussing.
In the field of tourism, we have just approved that Aeroflot can fly directly to Bali. We also welcome Russia opening a consulate general in Bali. I think there is a plan for Russia to open a consulate general in Bali. We fully support that and we will support direct flights not only by Aeroflot but also by other Russian airlines.
In other fields, we look forward to close cooperation in tactical fields. Also, I would like to invite a Russian delegation to our defence conference and defence exhibition in November 2024. And also, to invite Russian participation in our naval parade, which we would like to carry out in the early 2025. I have promised your Minister of Defence that we will send a navy contingent to your next Navy Day parade if we are invited. We would like to participate.
Your Excellency, we have good cooperation and we would like to enhance this cooperation. I have been discussing and I will continue to discuss in more details the way forward on major programmes.
Thank you very much.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you. Please convey my best wishes to the current President [of Indonesia], Mr Widodo; we have always had a good relationship. I hope that all of Indonesia’s plans, projects, and policies towards Russia will not only be preserved, but will also receive a boost under your leadership.
Thank you very much.
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