US President Joe Biden (centre) and Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrive for the first session of the G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi on September 9, 2023. - AFP
WASHINGTON (Reuters): US President Joe Biden will meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Washington in November, the White House said on Saturday.
Biden and Widodo met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, the White House said.
Both countries are hoping to push bilateral ties to a higher level. On Sunday, thousands of soldiers from the United States, Indonesia, Australia and other allied forces demonstrated their armor capabilities on Sunday in combat drills on the Indonesian island of Java at a time of increased Chinese aggression in the region.
Biden's administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to reassure allies alarmed by Beijing’s increasingly provocative actions in the disputed South China Sea, which has become a battleground for US-Chinese rivalries.
Earlier on Friday, however, top officials from Indonesia and China discussed ways to improve their bilateral investment and trade, which include expanding the range of Indonesian exports products, both countries had announced.
Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang earlier on Friday after this week's East Asia Summit in Jakarta.
Li said in the meeting that China "stands ready to expand the imports of Indonesian bulk commodities and premium agricultural and fishery products", according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Jokowi also specifically invited Chinese firms, both private and state-owned, to participate in building the Indonesia's $32 billion new capital, Nusantara, according to a statement from his office.
Both parties also discussed flight connectivity between both countries.
An agreement was also signed between both countries' commerce ministries to expand on their e-commerce cooperation, according to a Chinese statement. - Reuters
