LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in the town of Labuan Bajo in eastern Indonesia, with both sides pledging closer cooperation on trade and investment.
They met on the sidelines of the 42nd ASEAN Summit of leaders to be held on May 10-11 in the tourist town in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters that during the meeting, they expressed optimism about their two countries meeting the bilateral trade target of 15 billion U.S. dollars in 2028 with all trade barriers reduced if not completely eliminated.
They called for early negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty as both sides have seen the investment in each other has been on the rise, and agreed to increase cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy.
According to Marsudi, President Widodo also held bilateral meetings with Prime Minister of Timor-Leste Taur Matan Ruak, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone.
Widodo said the roadmap for Timor-Leste's full ASEAN membership will be adopted on Wednesday, which is the first day of the two-day ASEAN summit of leaders.
Last November, ASEAN agreed in principle to admit Timor-Leste to be its 11th member.
On Tuesday, an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting was held in the final preparations for the ASEAN summit of leaders.
The summit under Indonesia's ASEAN chairmanship this year is themed "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth." Indonesia has expressed hope that the bloc will remain a center of regional and global growth, laying focus on efforts to make ASEAN a fast-growing, inclusive and sustainable economic region in the long term.
Marsudi said earlier that eight meetings in plenary and retreat formats are scheduled to be held at the 42nd ASEAN Summit, seven of which will be chaired by President Widodo.
The last time Indonesia chaired ASEAN was in 2011, after hosting the summits in 1976 and 2003. The archipelagic country has scheduled the 43rd summit and the East Asia Summit to be held on Sept. 6-7 in Jakarta.
The ASEAN summit is held twice a year. ■