INDONESIA’S Defence Minister, General Ryamizard Ryacudu, has been invited for an official visit to Fiji by his Fijian counterpart, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola.
Ratu Inoke paid a courtesy call on General Ryacudu in Jakarta, where the two held bilateral meetings on Saturday.
During their meeting, the Fijian minister highlighted the long relationship shared by the two countries since 1974, which was later cemented with a 2011 Development Co-operation Agreement.
Ratu Inoke spoke of Fiji’s areas of strategic interest at the national and regional level, which were peacekeeping and counter terrorism, and then specified that Fiji was also keen to pursue technical assistance and capacity building opportunities in these areas coupled with joint training exercises.
General Ryacudu affirmed that Indonesia shared similar development experiences and principles with Fiji, which included being an archipelagic developing country, experiencing similar climate change threats and threats from ISIS the world was now experiencing. He expressed hope that bilateral relations can be formalised through a co-operation framework.
