Indonesian President invites PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc to attend ASEAN Leaders' gathering

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On Wednesday (28-3) at the Prime Minister's Office of Vietnam, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia General (Ret.) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan accompanied by Indonesian Ambassador H.E. Ibnu Hadi conveyed an invitation letter from Indonesian President Joko Widodo to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc to attend ASEAN Leaders' gathering (ALg) in the sideline of the - the Annual Meetings of International Monetary Fund - World Bank Group (AM IMF-WBG 2018) in Bali, Indonesia, on 11 October 2018. 

PM Phuc and Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

ALG is an initiative from Indonesia to enhance cooperation and collaboration between ASEAN, UN, IMF and World Bank.

Indonesian Minister appraised Vietnam for the great achievements in the past decade, especially the high GDP growth rate of 6.4% on average. Furthermore, the Minister as the Chairman of AM IMF-WBG 2018 Committee conveyed the idea of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to organize ALg as an effort to showcase to the world the success of ASEAN countries in coping with the 1998 economic crisis. 

Through this forum, Indonesia also wants to show ASEAN solidarity to 189 countries that will attend the annual meeting of IMF-WBG 2018. ALg will be a good opportunity for Vietnam to share its success stories in economic development, especially in alleviating poverty from 60% to 7%.

PM Nguyễn Xuân Phúc welcomed the invitation of President Joko Widodo and will do his best to arrange his schedule to fulfill the invitation. In the meeting, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc also extended the invitation from the Government and the People of Vietnam to the President of Indonesia Joko Widodo to officially visit Vietnam and attend the World  Economic Forum (WEF) on ASEAN which will be held in Hanoi on 11 - 13 September 2018.

Prime Minister hopes for a higher increase in Vietnam – Indonesia bilateral trade in the coming time given the abundant potentials that both countries possess. Also attending the meeting were a number of officials from the Indonesia ministries related to the preparation of AM IMF-WBG 2018 namely Jose Tavares (Director General of ASEAN Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Susiwijono (Assistant of Minister for Organisation, Bureaucracy and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance), Rionald Silaban (Assistant of Minister for Macro Economy and International Finance, Ministry of Finance) and Peter Jacobs (Expert Staff of the Board of Governors of Central Bank of Indonesia). 

Prior to Vietnam, the Coordinating Minister also conveyed invitation letter to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha (Thailand), Prime Minister Hun Sen (Cambodia) and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak (Malaysia).

Indonesia is officially appointed as the host of the IMF-WBG 2018 annual meeting on 10 October, 2015 in Lima, Peru. The meeting is scheduled to be held in Nusa Dua, Bali, on 08 -14 October 2018, attended by Ministers of Finance and Governors of Central Bank from 189 countries and 15.000 participants consisting of private sectors, academician, NGOs and media.