OREANDA-NEWS. September 04, 2014. The official visit of Foreign Affairs Minister of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrissov in Indonesia has continued, where he held meetings with the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other officials.

Speaking about the prospects of development of bilateral relations with the President, E. Idrissov said that Indonesia has an important place in the system of foreign policy of Kazakhstan, noting that Astana attaches great importance to development of mutually advantageous cooperation with Jakarta. The state visit of President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Indonesia in April 2012 and the visit of President of Indonesia S. Yudhoyono to Kazakhstan in September 2013 gave a powerful impetus to bilateral cooperation.

It was noted that Kazakhstan and Indonesia have similar positions on current issues in international relations, and have similar goals for state construction and creation of competitive economies.

On the same day, the head of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs met with his counterpart - Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, with whom he discussed the state and prospects of bilateral relations and exchanged views on topical issues of the international agenda.

The work of the Kazakh-Indonesian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation was positively noted, the first meeting was held on August 21, 2013. The Days of Culture of Kazakhstan in Indonesia were held successfully in Jakarta in the period from 12 to 14 May, 2014.

The two sides noted the presence of positive trends in the field of trade and economic cooperation. The volume of bilateral trade has increased more than 3 times in the last year.

In this regard, E. Idrissov underlined the need to increase the work, taking into account considerable potential of the two countries and mutual interest in cooperation. In particular, he noted the need to develop a cost-effective route for delivery of goods between the two countries through China, Russia, Iran and other countries and invited Indonesian companies to do business in areas such as oil and gas, agro-processing, manufacturing, tourism and hotel in Kazakhstan.

E. Idrissov thanked the Indonesian side for support of Astana to hold the international specialized exhibition "EXPO-2017" and invited to participate actively in its work. As noted by M. Natalegawa, Indonesia is interested in determining the format of their participation in the early stages, and to represent their own experience in the field of energy based on renewable energy. Talking about international issues, the sides stressed importance of further cooperation in the area of strengthening the dialogue among civilizations, promoting further modernization of the Islamic world in the framework of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Particular reference was made to the importance of further progress in ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The importance of further institutional and legal clearance of the zones, free of nuclear weapons in Central Asia, as well as zones free of nuclear weapons in Southeast Asia under the Treaty of Bangkok in 1995 was noted as well.

An important outcome of the meeting was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral consultations between the foreign ministries of the two countries.