FM highlights strengthened Indonesia-Singapore relations in 10 years
Jakarta, July 25 (ANTARA) - Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi highlighted the increasingly strong bilateral relations between Indonesia and Singapore over the past decade to Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
"Bilateral relations over the last 10 years have gone very well, including the ratification of the FIR, Extradition, and Defense Agreements," she stated during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM 57th) in Vientiane, Laos, on Wednesday (July 24).
In a statement from her office, the minister also drew attention to the rapid development in trade and investment cooperation with Singapore, which is one of Indonesia's important partners in these two fields.
Apart from bilateral relations, Marsudi stated that her meeting with Minister Balakrishnan also covered discussions on the Myanmar issue.
She emphasized that Indonesia and Singapore shared the same position in continuing to use the Five Point Consensus (5PC), regardless of its implementation shortcomings, as the main reference in resolving problems in Myanmar following the 2021 military coup.
"There has been very minimal progress in the 5PC implementation, especially because there is no commitment from the Myanmar Military Junta to implement 5PC," she remarked.
The issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was also discussed between Marsudi and Balakrishnan.
During the meeting, Marsudi affirmed that Indonesia condemned three proposed laws from the Israeli parliament which, if passed, would label the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, as a "terrorist group".
"This is truly unacceptable. Labeling the UN agency as a terrorist organization where the agency is responsible for the lives of millions of Palestinian refugees," she pointed out.
Marsudi also expressed Indonesia's stance on the legal resolution regarding Israel's activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, which was recently issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
She expressed hope that the General Assembly and the UN Security Council would follow up on it.
In addition to meeting with Balakrishnan, Marsudi also held a bilateral meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa on the sidelines of the 57th AMM in Laos.
In the series of the 57th AMM on Wednesday, she attended the meeting of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Commission (SEANWFZ Commission), a meeting with Representatives of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Committee (AICHR), and the Troika meeting for the implementation of the Five Point Consensus (5PC).
