Following the signing of contracts in conjunction with the visit of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his entourage to Malaysia, Malaysia, and Indonesia increased their cooperation in trade, investment, and the halal industry.
During the bilateral instrument signing ceremony at Seri Perdana Complex, Malaysian Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and his Indonesian counterpart Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan signed the border trade pact and memorandum of understanding on investment promotion collaboration.
President Joko Widodo arrived in Malaysia on Wednesday on a two-day working visit at the request of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to further deepen the two economies’ long-standing and close ties.
The Director-General of Malaysia’s Islamic Development Department (Jakim), Hakimah Mohd Yusoff, and Indonesia’s Halal Product Assurance Agency’s head, Dr. Muhammad Aqil Irham, inked an agreement on mutual acceptance of halal certification for halal products.
Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian both inked a border crossing agreement.
With total commerce of RM130.14 billion (US$29.55 billion) in 2022, Indonesia was Malaysia’s sixth-largest trading partner and the second-largest among ASEAN member nations. This represents a 36.5 percent increase from RM95.31 billion (US$22.98 billion) in 2021.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim met on Thursday, June 8, 2023, at the Malaysian Prime Minister’s official residence in Seri Perdana, Putrajaya, Malaysia, to discuss bilateral cooperation in several fields. One of these is the process of negotiating territorial sea limits, which was completed successfully after nearly 18 years.
The President of Indonesia applauded the successful conclusion of the territorial sea border negotiations in the Sulawesi Sea and the southern Malacca Strait after 18 years of negotiations and further thanked God and Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, as he said in a joint press release following the meeting.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Anwar and President Jokowi additionally talked about the protection of Indonesian migrant workers (PMI). President Jokowi praised Prime Minister Anwar’s dedication to improving migrant worker protection and ensuring fair law enforcement for the workers of Indonesia.
Mr. Anwar and Mr. Jokowi decided to set up a special bilateral arrangement to address the issues confronting Indonesian migrant workers. He went on to say that he wants the Community Learning Centre on the Peninsula to be realised immediately, that Indonesian people at the Immigration Depot can be deported right away, and that the one-channel system should be improved.
Finally, the president called for increased coordination to combat discrimination in palm oil and other commodities. The President expresses his gratitude to the Indonesia-Malaysia joint mission to Brussels.