Indonesia to boost partnership with South Korea on 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties

SEOUL, Feb 19 (Bernama): Indonesia's top envoy in South Korea has stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation and reaffirmed Jakarta's continued commitment to a joint fighter development project, as the two sides mark the 50th anniversary this year of forging diplomatic ties.

"The anniversary of 50 years of Indonesia-Korea friendship is very important and will become a remarkable story between the two countries," Ambassador Gandi Sulistiyanto said during a press briefing at his official residence in Seoul as reported by Yonhap news agency.

"On the other side, this celebration can also be a critical juncture for the two nations to reflect upon its 50 years of friendship and define approaches to enhance cooperation for the coming decades," he added.

He pledged efforts to boost bilateral cooperation at the governmental and business levels alike as well as to promote person-to-person exchanges.

The two nations are celebrating the anniversary formally under the theme of "Closer Friendship Stronger Partnership."

"The theme reflects the hope for a deeper friendship between Indonesia and Korea, and a more solid partnership between the two countries in the years to come," the envoy said.

He also reaffirmed that Indonesia remains committed to defence cooperation with South Korea, especially the project to develop the KF-21 multirole fighter aircraft together.

Indonesia had agreed to shoulder 20 per cent of the total development cost for the 8.8 trillion-won (US$6.7 billion) project launched in 2015. Despite the deal, the country had halted payments since January 2019 and was estimated to have overdue payments of about 800 billion won.

"At that time, my government had formally decided in the Cabinet meeting that this project will be continued despite financial disturbance. Because of the pandemic, we were left with difficulties ... but last year and this year, the financial contribution will be continued," Sulistiyanto said. "This is following the commitment from my president."

In November, Indonesia resumed payments for its share of the cost of the joint project, with its defence ministry delivering 9.4 billion won to the South Korean government. - Bernama