China, Indonesia pledge to upgrade economic, trade cooperation

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday vowed to expand the economic and trade cooperation to more areas and raise it to a higher level.  [Special report: President Xi visits Indonesia, Malaysia]

The economic and trade cooperation between the two countries enjoys favorable conditions and huge potential, and the entrepreneurs from both countries should grasp the chance to push the trade ties to a higher level, Xi said when addressing a luncheon with the business community from China and Indonesia.

As developing countries with large population and vast territory, China and Indonesia bear the common tasks of developing economy and improving people's lives, said Xi.

The two countries' economies are complementary, with a vast potential for cooperation, he said, noting that now comes the best time in history for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

With the newly forged comprehensive strategic partnership and a five-year development plan, the two sides have identified the priorities for economic and trade cooperation in the coming years, said the Chinese president.

Xi called for continued efforts by two sides to enrich their cooperation and raise cooperation to a higher level.

Xi said that China and Indonesia should enhance exchanges and coordination in such issues as energy security, food security and regional economic integration, and upgrade the China-ASEAN free trade area to a new level.

Secondly, both sides should boost balanced and rapid development of bilateral trade, expand investment cooperation, establish the Indonesia-China comprehensive industrial park at an early date, encourage Chinese enterprises to participate in Indonesia's construction of six major economic corridors, intensify investment to Indonesia's infrastructure construction and enhance cooperation in agriculture, energy and tourism.

Thirdly, China and Indonesia should advance financial cooperation, strengthen multi-level regional financial safety net, foster the use of national currencies in bilateral trade and investment, and facilitate one country's enterprises to invest in the other country.

For his part, Yudhoyono said that China and Indonesia are important development opportunities and partners for each other, noting that both countries are emerging markets and are committed to realizing their own development objectives.

He called on both sides to explore potentials, strengthen cooperation in trade, energy and infrastructure construction and realize win-win results.

Indonesia welcomes China's investment and encourages the two countries' enterprises to strengthen cooperation, so as to advance the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership, he said.

The two leaders also jointly witnessed the signing of a series of commercial cooperation agreements between the two countries.

Before the luncheon, Xi attended a photo gallery, co-organized by Xinhua News Agency and Indonesia's news agency ANTARA, which showed the history of China-Indonesia friendly exchange and cooperation.

Xi arrived here Wednesday for a two-day state visit to the Southeast Asian country.