Belgian King Philippe Leopold Louis Marie personally welcomed the Indonesian president at the entrance to the Laeken Palace in Brussels, which is the official residence of the Belgian royal family.

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesia President Joko Widodo expressed his appreciation when meeting with Belgian King Philippe Leopold Louis Marie at the Laeken Palace, Brussels, Wednesday, for the relationship between the two countries.

Belgian King Philippe welcomed the Indonesian president at the entrance to the Laeken Palace which is the official residence of the Belgian royal family.

"For more than 70 years, Belgium has been an important and strategic partner for Indonesia. As part of the Three Nations Commission in 1949, Belgium became an important part of the history of Indonesian independence. Belgium is also one of the European countries that first recognized Indonesia's independence," President Widodo noted.

For this reason, the Indonesian president also invited King Philippe to visit the archipelagic country.

"I think this closeness is an important asset for the Indonesia-Belgium partnership in the future," the head of state explained.

Apart from discussing relations between the two countries, in the meeting which lasted around 30 minutes, President Widodo also discussed the issue of strengthening economic cooperation, and cooperation in the field of climate change.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo accompanied by First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo and a limited delegation, on Tuesday (Dec. 13), left for Brussels, Belgium, to attend the ASEAN-EU Summit on December 14, 2022.

The president emphasized that good relations must be continuously strengthened between ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the European Union because the organization of European countries is one of the strategic trade partners for ASEAN.

The value of trade between ASEAN and the EU in 2021 reached 268.9 billion U.S. dollars, the third largest after the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States (U.S.).

“The foreign direct investment (FDI) from the European Union to ASEAN, which amounted to 26 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, is also the second largest foreign direct investment after China. This is why we continue to strengthen. We will continue to improve good relations between ASEAN and the European Union,” the president said.

Specifically, the head of state also hopes that trade and investment relations between Indonesia and the European Union would also continue to increase.

“Of course our country, Indonesia, wants the trade with the European Union to increase, and investment from the European Union to Indonesia also continues to increase,” he said.

Indonesia received the handover of ASEAN chairmanship from Cambodia and will become the ASEAN Chair as of 2023. The handover of the chairmanship took place at the closing ceremony of the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and other related summits at the Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel on Nov. 13, 2022.

Reporting by Indonesia Window