Indonesia, China Hold Meeting on Covid-19 in Hainan

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Hainan, China on August 20.

During the meeting, Retno was accompanied by Indonesia’s State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, who is also the chief executive of the Covid-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee.

“We just had a bilateral meeting with State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi today in Sanya in Hainan,” Retno said in a video conference on Thursday, August 20.

She said it was a follow-up meeting after the virtual discussion was held last month. One of the topics brought to the table was both countries’ commitment to strengthen the cooperation in getting Covid-19 under control.

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“Indonesia stressed the importance of producing adequate, harmless, and affordable vaccines,” she said.

Indonesian vaccine manufacturer PT Bio Farma plans to produce up to 250 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from China-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Ltd in the first quarter of next year.

Bio Farma recently began its Phase 3 clinical trials in Indonesia following Phases 1 and 2 in China. It carried out the coronavirus vaccine test at the Faculty of Medicine at Padjajaran University in Bandung, West Java.

Beside the discussion on the Covid-19 pandemic, the minister said that the two nations are committed to enhancing the bilateral relations based on mutual respect and benefit as well as to maintain stability and security in the region.

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In the area of economic cooperation, she said, Indonesia and China will also promote trade and investment in both nations during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The minister said she also discussed the Indonesian crewmen who were mistreated when working at Chinese fishing boats.

Both ministers also agreed on the implementation of essential business travel corridor arrangement, which specifically will arrange essential business trips and urgent official trips safely.

After the bilateral meeting, both Retno and Erick also visited some companies in the pharmaceutical industry and China Railway.

(Writer: Devina Halim | Editor: Krisiandi)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/08/20/20480381/bahas-vaksin-covid-19-dengan-menlu-china-menteri-retno-bicara-soal-keamanan?page=1.