PUTRAJAYA: Visiting Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived at the Perdana Putra Building here yesterday for a four-eyed meeting with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Joko, who is popularly known as Jokowi, flew in on Thursday for a two-day visit to Malaysia. He was accompanied by his wife, Iriana Joko Widodo. Jokowi and Dr Mahathir are expected to discuss matters of bilateral, regional and international interest.
The Indonesian president tweeted that he will discuss with Dr Mahathir, among others, matters pertaining to Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, cross-border cooperation, and discrimination against the oil palm products of the two countries. A Foreign Ministry statement had said that the visit by Jokowi is the first abroad following his re-election as the Indonesian president for the second term on April 17.
Earlier, Jokowi was accorded an official welcome at the Perdana Square here. Jokowi and Iriana arrived at the square at about 10.30 am and were welcomed by Dr Mahathir and his wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali. After the national anthems of the two countries were played, Jokowi inspected a guard-ofhonour mounted by 106 officers and men of the 1st Battalion Royal Malay Regiment led by Maj Mohd Shaiful Amir Omar.
Indonesia is Malaysia’s closest and most important neighbour and ninth-largest trading partner globally and the third largest among the 10 Asean countries after Singapore and Thailand. In 2018, the total bilateral trade volume was RM72.02 billion, up by 7.4 percent from the RM71.51 billion in 2017. – Bernama
