India, Indonesia agree to strengthen defense, trade, maritime cooperation

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - India and Indonesia on Saturday agreed to strengthen their cooperation defense, trade and maritime areas officials said.

This came as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in New Delhi for bilateral talks.

Prabowo is on an official trip to India where he will also be the chief guest at the Republic Day main function in the national capital on Sunday.

Modi and Prabowo held “wide-ranging talks,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said.

Both leaders “reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership with focus in the areas of defense and security, maritime domain, economic and people-to-people ties,” he said.

The leaders “exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest,” he said.

After holding talks with the visiting leaders, Modi said in a press statement that Indonesia is an "important partner” in the ASEAN bloc as well as in the Indo-Pacific.

Stating that the two nations agreed that the “freedom of navigation should be ensured in line with international law,” Modi said the two countries have decided to strengthen cooperation in areas like FinTech, artificial intelligence, the internet of things and digital public infrastructure.

He said an agreement signed between India and Indonesia on Saturday in the maritime security sphere will “further strengthen cooperation in crime prevention, search and rescue and capacity building.”

Prabowo arrived in India on Thursday evening for a three-day official visit.