Iran’s economy minister and vice-president of Indonesia, during a meeting on Friday in the Southeast Asian country, emphasized escalation of bilateral cooperation.
Iran Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayebnia met and talked with Vice President of Indonesia Muhammad Jusuf Kalla on Friday on the sidelines of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group Board of Governors in Jakarta.
During the meeting, Tayebnia pointed to cultural commonalities and friendly relations between the two countries voicing Iran’s willingness to reinvigorate collaboration with the Indonesia.
“Before sanction years, the volume of annual trade between Iran and Indonesia reached more than two billion dollars though the figure has now fallen by 200 million dollars,” highlighted the Iranian official adding “in the post-JCPOA conditions and given the economic capacities of both countries, the trade volume could hit two to five billion dollars.”
He deemed banking relations as well as cooperation in the energy sector as the main venues for boosting economic ties between the two parties; “before the imposition of sanctions, Indonesia would supply a portion of its oil demand via Iranian crude and Tehran is now ready to resume oil exports to Jakarta.”
Economy minister of Iran expressed Iranian banks’ readiness to participate in Jakarta inviting Indonesia bankers to make a visit to Iran in order to observe capacities of Iran’s banking system as well as to discuss venues for cooperation.
He also referred to Iran’s development in various sectors including petrochemicals, dam construction, infrastructure as well as advanced science like nano- and biotechnologies voicing the country’s readiness to bolster relations with Indonesia in all fields.
Vice President of Indonesia Muhammad Jusuf Kalla, for his part, pointed to the recent talks between Indonesian officials and Iran’s President in Istanbul of Turkey over expansion of ties between the two countries and voiced satisfaction towards the emerged grounds for development of bilateral economic cooperation.
“The fact that today Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria are facing a crisis and foreign interference, is mainly due to their failure in economic development because if people are not able to imagine a good future for themselves and are faced with poverty, they would undoubtedly be led towards retaliation and violent measures.
Jusuf Kalla welcomed expansion of economic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran expressing hope that in the post sanction era, previously inked agreements between the two sides in the field of petrochemical industries will become operational.
At the end of the meeting, the two sides urged cooperation between Iran and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) emphasizing Iran's joining the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation of the association.
Also on the sidelines of IDB Group 41st Annual Meeting, Iran’s Ali Tayebnia met and talked with the former president of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Ahmed Mohamed Ali Al-Madani calling for the banks commitments to its obligations towards Iran.
Iran’s Tayebnia also thanked the efforts and services of Mohamed Ali during his presidency calling him a symbol of friendship and honesty in the Muslim world.
He recalled that Iran’s private sector is currently attracting resources at a good pace; “we expect IDB’s pledge to provide Iran with 3 billion dollars of finance will soon become realized.
Ahmed Mohamed Ali Al-Madani, for his part, said IDB remains fully committed to its obligations with regard to Iran and Tehran’s expectations will be met.