ISLAMABAD – Indonesian President Joko Widodo and First Lady Madam IrianaWidodo will pay a two-day state visit to Pakistan on January 26 to January27, 2018, press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said onSaturday.
The business fraternity of the friendly nation will accompany the presidentof Indonesia so that bilateral trade can be discussed. “President Widodowill be accompanied by Ministers and a large business delegation,” theforeign office said.
This will be the first visit of President Widodo to Pakistan. In 2012,President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Pakistan to attend D-8 Summit.President Mamnoon Hussain participated in the Extraordinary Summit of OICon Palestine and Al Quds Shareef in Jakarta in March 2016.
President Mamnoon Hussain will hold a State banquet for the visitingdignitary. President Widodo will also address a Joint Session of theParliament.
President Widodo will also have talks with Prime Minister Shahid KhaqanAbbasi. His visit will contribute towards strengthening existing fraternalties between the two countries.
It was told that Pakistan and Indonesia enjoy close historical and cordialrelations. Indonesia is the 8th largest trading partner of Pakistan and thelargest trading partner in the ASEAN region.
Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Indonesia stands around US$ 2.1 billionannually. Pakistan is one of the largest importers of Indonesian palm oil.Bilateral trade is expected to grow manifold with grant of duty free accessto 20 tariff lines from Pakistan for export to Indonesia under the ambit ofPreferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
During recent years, bilateral political, parliamentary, economic, defenceand people to people contacts have seen a substantial increase.