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| President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with her Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo during a summit at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Hong In-kee |
By Kang Seung-woo
President Park Geun-hye and Indonesian President Joko Widodo agreed to boost their 10-year strategic partnership, Monday, as Seoul seeks to participate in Jakarta's infrastructure projects valued at $6.7 billion.
The two heads of state also pledged to intensify efforts to increase bilateral trade, pushed down by the drop in oil and gas prices.
Park and Widodo held a summit at Cheong Wa Dae after the latter arrived in Seoul, Sunday, for a three-day state visit.
President Widodo's trip is reciprocating President Park's state visit to Indonesia in October 2013, and is the first visit by the Indonesian president for a bilateral summit since his inauguration in October 2014.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, Indonesia is pushing ahead with gas pipeline projects in Palembang and Bali, worth $600 million, and the Korea Gas Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its Indonesian counterpart to participate.
Park asked Widodo to help Korean firms win projects for the construction of power stations in three regions, which may lead to a combined $4 billion deal.
As the Southeast Asian nation will host the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, it has plans to revamp transportation and launch several infrastructure projects.
During the summit, the Korea Rail Network Authority inked a MOU to participate in a $2.1 billion light-rail transit project.
Along with these two, Park and Widodo observed the signing of nine others, including one to bolster cooperation on various maritime affairs.
"Beyond the fields of infrastructure and energy, we shared the view to strengthen bilateral cooperation in fresh sectors like the environment, creative industry and maritime industry to find a new growth engine," Park said during a joint press conference after the summit.
She also said they agreed to increase exchanges of human resources, culture and defense to turn their ties into a "comprehensive partnership."
Indonesia is Korea's second-largest investment destination and third-largest trade partner among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
However, amid the sluggish global economy and the declining price of raw materials, the bilateral trade volume decreased from $30.8 billion in 2011 to $16.7 billion in 2015.
During the summit, the two leaders found room to expand bilateral trade.
Korea has asked Indonesia to faithfully follow the Korea-ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA) because the nation's 65 items exported to Jakarta still face high tariffs. She also asked Widodo to reconsider its anti-dumping regulations on Korean steel products.
In addition, the two sides agreed to discuss how to ease tariffs on additional items.
According to Park's office, an additional lowering of 2 percent in tariffs will increase the nation's exports to Indonesia by $35 million.
During the summit, the two leaders also discussed the North Korean nuclear issue and global terrorism.
Widodo told the press conference that he expressed his support for the U.N. sanctions imposed on the North for its fourth nuclear test.
The Indonesian president also said he proposed to Park exchanging intelligence between the two nations to tackle terrorism.
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