Ambassadors Forum: Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam Talks with DAV Staff and Students

On the afternoon of May 7, 2019, within the framework of Ambassadors Forum 2019 hosted by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV), Mr Ibnu Hadi, Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam had a talk on "New Development in Vietnam-Indonesia Relations: Bilateral, within ASEAN and multilateral”.

On behalf of the DAV, Mr. Le Hai Binh, DAV Vice President chaired the talk. Present at the event were Mr. Ferry Murdiansyah, Second Secretary; Mr. Pham Quoc Manh, staff from the Indonesian Embassy to Vietnam; Dr. Nguyen Phu Tan Huong, Deputy Head of the Faculty of International Politics and Diplomacy; researchers from the Institute for East Sea Studies, and 55 DAV undergraduates majoring in International Relations. 

Opening the talk, the Ambassador affirmed that the Vietnam and Indonesia strategic partnership had made significant progress in the past three years.

Economically, bilateral trade turnover in 2018 reached 8.4 billion USD, in which, Indonesia's total export turnover to Vietnam reached 4.9 billion USD (increasing to 35.1%) and the import from Vietnam was 3.5 billion USD (increasing to 23.4%). The trade surplus for Indonesia was $1.38 billion. It is expected that bilateral trade turnover will be about 9.5-9.7 billion USD by the end of 2019. In the first three months of 2019, this figure was 2.12 USD billion, rising 9.68% year-on-year. Many Indonesian companies are also operating effectively in Vietnam, such as, Goviet, Traveloka, etc.

In terms of politics and diplomacy, the two countries regularly exchange high-level delegations. To Indonesia, Vietnam is constantly increasing its position and power, playing an  important role in regional and international multilateral forums, and contributing to the process of building a peaceful regional stability (for example, Vietnam served as a host for the 2nd US-North Korea Summit). 

Recently, the Indonesian Embassy has established the Umah Indo (i.e., House of Indonesia) located in the premises of the Indonesian Embassy in Hanoi to introduce Vietnamese friends about the culture, cuisine, country, and the Indonesian

The Ambassador believes that the bilateral relationship between Vietnam and Indonesia will develop more rapidly when a direct air connection between the two countries is established. From May 29, 2019, Vietjet Air is trying to open a direct route from Ho Chi Minh to Bali. Vietnam Airlines is also considering opening a route from Ho Chi Minh to Jakarta, and then Hanoi to Jakarta.

Within the framework of ASEAN, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between ASEAN and six partners that signed FTAs ​​with ASEAN is expected to be reached in November 2019. It proves that the process of building the ASEAN Community is still progressing wonderfully, especially in terms of economic cooperation. According to Mr. Ibnu Hadi, Vietnam will have many opportunities, but face many challenges when Vietnam plays the rotating role of ASEAN Chair in 2020.

After the presentation, the Ambassador answered many questions from students and DAV staff about the prospect of strengthening Vietnam and Indonesia relations and increasing the efficiency of cooperation between the two countries within the ASEAN framework, as well as other multilateral forums.

The Ambassadors Forum lasted for more than 1.5 hours and ended in a friendly atmosphere, bringing a lot of inspiration and new approaches for the DAV staff and students.