Jakarta (ANTARA) – Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly expressed her country’s support for Indonesia’s G20 presidency when she and her entourage paid a courtesy visit and met with President Joko Widodo at Merdeka Palace, Jakarta , Monday.

According to Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, Canada’s support was expressed, among other things, through a commitment to continue to have open communication with Indonesia in order to best prepare the G20 to face the current difficult situation.

“In the previous meeting, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs once again expressed Canada’s support for Indonesia’s presidency of the G20,” Retno said in a press release after accompanying the president to receive a group visit of Canadian Ministers of Foreign Affairs broadcast on the official YouTube channel. from the Presidential Secretariat, Monday.

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Retno added that commitment and open communication to achieve G20 optimization amid difficult situations also came from all member countries of the multilateral cooperation forum.

“That is why we want this support to come to fruition, we are working together so that once again the G20 can work optimally in the midst of this difficult situation,” he said.

In addition to the support related to the G20, President Jokowi and the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs discussed economic cooperation between the two countries, considering that Canada is one of Indonesia’s main trade and investment partners in the North American region.

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Retno explained that the trade value between Canada and Indonesia saw a significant increase of almost 30 percent and a 4 percent increase in investment value in 2021.

Therefore, President Jokowi stressed the importance of efforts to strengthen economic cooperation relations between the two countries, including intensifying negotiations on the “Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement” (CEPA), the first round of which was completed in March 2022.

“The president said that negotiations need to be accelerated. Apart from that, cooperation in clean energy, infrastructure and other issues was discussed. Canadian investors are keen to continue investing in Indonesia,” Retno said.

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For information, Indonesia and Canada completed the first negotiations on the Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA) in Bandung from March 14 to 19, 2022.

The Director General of International Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Commerce, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, acted as chief negotiator for Indonesia, while the Canadian delegation was led by the Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Trade Policy and Negotiations for global affairs, Arun Alexander.

Besides Foreign Minister Retno, State Minister Pratikno and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung accompanied the President during the Canadian Foreign Minister’s honorary visit.