Indonesian President Joko Widodo to visit Singapore for leaders' retreat

SINGAPORE: Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo will visit Singapore on Thursday (Mar 16) to take part in the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

This year’s retreat will be Mr Lee’s sixth with Mr Widodo, following last year’s edition in Bintan, Indonesia.

The two leaders will “review the significant progress in bilateral cooperation since the last retreat”, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a news release on Wednesday.

This includes the ratification of the three agreements under the Expanded Framework, whose signing was witnessed by Mr Lee and Mr Joko Widodo at the previous retreat.

In January, Indonesia ratified all three agreements with Singapore, addressing the issues of air space management, defence cooperation and extradition of fugitives. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said at the time that Singapore has completed its domestic legal processes for all three agreements.

“The leaders will discuss strengthening the bilateral partnership in forward-looking areas across the economic, socio-cultural and security spheres,” PMO said in Wednesday's news release.

Mr Lee and Mr Widodo will also witness the exchange of several Memorandums of Understanding signed ahead of the retreat, including in emerging areas such as energy, sustainability, health, and human capital development, as well as in traditional areas like security. They will exchange views on regional and global developments.

Mr Lee will host lunch for Mr Widodo and the Indonesian delegation.

Mr Widodo will be accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers and ministerial-ranked officials.

The Singapore delegation includes Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean, and other Cabinet ministers.