The three areas of cooperation were trade, investment and tourism, energy and green economy, and defence industry, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and Czech Republic on Monday agreed to develop three areas of cooperation which they believe would enhance mutually beneficial economic and investment relations.

The three areas of cooperation were trade, investment and tourism, energy and green economy, and defence industry, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a press conference at the Merdeka Palace after holding bilateral talks with Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

"Relations between Indonesia and Czech Republic are running well and continue to grow. Our economic ties with Czech Republic have been increasing significantly. Czech Republic is an important country in Central and East Europe. We hope our trade and investment relations with Czech Republic will further increase," Yudhoyono said.

Yudhoyono said he was optimistic relations between the two nations would continue to grow and asked all sectors to get involved in building connectivity between the two countries through government-to-government, business-to-business, and people-to-people relations.

"I am pleased to hear that he has visited Borobodur and Prambanan temples and held a business meeting. He is visiting Indonesia, along with a business delegation to interact with Indonesian business people," he said.

Meanwhile, President Vaclav Klaus said his meeting with his Indonesian counterpart had sent a clear message to the public that the two countries were prepared to develop strategic and mutually beneficial relations.

"We have talked about energy cooperation and environment-oriented development. The talks on energy are very important," he said.

He said Czech Republic was ready to establish mutually beneficial cooperation with Indonesia in defence industry.

President Yudhoyono said trade and investment were among interesting sectors the two nations would continue to encourage.

"I see opportunities in the investment and trade sectors indicate a positive trend. One of the ways to take advantage of the opportunities is encouraging more interactions between business people in the two countries," he said.

He said cooperation in the defence industry also had a good chance to be developed. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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