Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inspects an honor guard before meeting with Kenyan President William Ruto at the State House in Nairobi on Aug. 21.
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Wednesday, 23rd. August, 2023.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) resumed his state visit to the United Republic of Tanzania (22/08). President Jokowi became the first Indonesian leader to visit Tanzania in more than 30 years, with the aim of strengthening cooperation between the Global South countries. This state visit is an opportunity for President Jokowi to meet with the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan. The event was held at Dar Es Salaam State House, where the two heads of state discussed and established cooperation.
During the meeting, President Jokowi expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome from President Samia. Given the roots of strong relations between Africa and Indonesia through the 1955 Asian-African Conference (KAA) and the 1961 Non-Aligned Movement, President Jokowi emphasized the importance of increasing collaboration and solidarity among developing countries.
Furthermore, President Jokowi said that Global South countries make up 85 percent of the world’s population. Therefore, the President is of the opinion that the voices and interests of the global south should be heard by the whole world. President Jokowi also stated that Indonesia has concrete plans to increase cooperation with Africa through a development grand design for the next five years.
In agriculture, Indonesia is committed to helping revitalize the Farmers Agriculture and Rural Training Centre in Morogoro, Tanzania. Regarding health, Indonesia also plans to support Tanzania’s health security by meeting the needs of pharmaceutical products in the country. “Indonesia is committed to take part in building Tanzanian health security, Indonesian pharmaceutical companies will begin the first exports of their products to Tanzania to contribute to meeting the country’s needs for pharmaceutical products,” he said.
President Jokowi also mentioned that through the bilateral meeting, Indonesia wants to increase the value of investment in Tanzania in the energy sector, including the management of the Mnazi Bay Gas Block by Pertamina and the utilization of natural gas for producing chemicals and fertilizers.
This investment cooperation is considered strategic in strengthening relations between developing countries. In addition, the President also called for the establishment of a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with Tanzania to improve trade and investment protection.
The meeting led to a number of cooperation documents signed by the two countries, including visa-free agreements for holders of diplomatic and service passport, cooperation in the health, energy, electricity, mining, as well as oil and gas business sectors.
This state visit is expected to strengthen relations between Indonesia and Tanzania, as well as make a positive contribution to cooperation between developing countries at the global level.
On a separate occasion, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that during the limited meeting (tete-a-tete), the President of Tanzania expressed her desire to learn from Indonesia, especially regarding infrastructure development and downstream industries.
“The desire to learn from Indonesia for the development of the palm oil industry, as well as learn about SOE management,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Retno also mentioned that the two presidents also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the field of diplomatic training. “President Jokowi invited a team from Tanzania to visit Jakarta to exchange ideas on the development of the diplomatic school curriculum,” he said.
In addition, Foreign Minister Retno also said that in the meeting, the two leaders had agreed to immediately start negotiations on the formation of PTA and BIT. “For the PTA and BIT, the two presidents agreed to start negotiations immediately,” he said.
The meeting between the two countries resulted in a number of cooperation documents in several sectors being signed, namely the Memorandum of Understanding for the Establishment of a Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation, Visa Free Agreement for Diplomatic and Service Passport Holders, Memorandum of Understanding on Health Cooperation, Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Energy Sector, Memorandum of Understanding related to Electricity Cooperation between PLN and Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), Memorandum of Understanding between MIND ID and State Mining Corporation (STAMICO) Tanzania, and Memorandum of Understanding on Activities related to Oil and Gas Business Value Chain between Pertamina and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).