President Receives Courtesy Call From Singapore's Foreign Minister

Jakarta (Antara Bali)- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) received a courtesy call from Singapore's Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan here on Wednesday.

President Jokowi was accompanied by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister A.M. Fachir while receiving the neighboring country's minister.

In the meeting, Jokowi stated that Indonesia and Singapore share sound bilateral relations, and it is paramount to intensify mutually beneficial cooperation between the two nations, according to Fachir.

"And just now, he (Balakrishnan) lauded the Indonesian government's economic measures regarding deregulation and procedure simplification," Fachir stated.

The minister expressed confidence that more investors from Singapore would invest in Indonesia.    
  Balakrishnan is paying an introductory visit to Indonesia on January 12-13.

On Tuesday, Dr Balakrishnan met Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, and Minister of Communication and Information Technology Rudiantara.

Singapore is the largest investor, with principle licenses worth US$16 billion, but the realization amounted to US$3.8 billion.  

The city nation is Indonesia's second-largest trading partner after China.

The trade balance between the two countries reached US$42 billion in 2014.

In 2014, Singapore's investment was the largest in Indonesia, amounting to US$5.8 billion.

Indonesia received 1.5 million tourists from Singapore, making it the highest source of foreign visitors. (WDY)