UNWTO official lauds ‘remarkable’ Saudi efforts for sustainable tourism

JAKARTA: Saudi Arabia and Indonesia on Tuesday agreed to promote stronger investment ties during Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s visit to Jakarta.

The Kingdom is Indonesia’s largest trading partner in the Middle East and between 2016 and 2021 invested around $24.6 billion in the southeast Asian country. Bilateral trade volume was $5.5 billion in 2021, showcasing an increase of more than 40 percent on the previous year.

Prince Faisal was in the Indonesian capital on Tuesday for meetings with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, with whom he discussed ways to further boost investment ties.

“The Kingdom is very, very committed to exploring all these opportunities. We see a lot of potential in Indonesia, there’s a lot of potential in the Kingdom,” the prince said in a joint press conference with Marsudi. “We are on the right track to further strengthen this relationship.”

The visit comes as Indonesia seeks to increase its exports, including passenger cars, and palm oil.

“We agreed to promote stronger collaboration between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the Indonesia Investment Authority,” Marsudi told reporters, adding that the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country was looking to Saudi investment in solar power plants, the lithium battery industry, and development of hydropower.

“I do hope that we can expedite the implementation of all plans of investment,” she said.

The meeting in Jakarta marked the ministers’ third in the last six months.

Saudi-Indonesian ties have received a boost in recent years, following King Salman’s 12-day visit to the country, during which a range of cooperation agreements were signed.