Italy is eager to boost its "excellent" ties with Indonesia – ASEAN's largest economy - in a raft of areas ranging from energy to defence, logistics, maritime cooperation and agribusiness, foreign undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Indonesia offers several interesting areas of opportunity for collaboration at regional and bilateral level for Italy that we want to grasp, with an increasingly proactive policy towards the countries of South-Eastern Asia and Jakarta," he said after talks with Indonesian deputy foreign minister Mahendra Siregar.
"The solid foundations of our relations, based on trade worth 3.1 billion dollars in 2019 and a stable friendship between the two peoples, must be further developed in all sectors, starting with those of energy, defence industry, urban development, logistics, maritime cooperation, agribusiness and the world of innovative start-ups," Di Stefano added.
During their talks, Di Stefano and Siregar highlighted the "excellent" state of bilateral relations between Italy and Indonesia - an important partner in the government's strategies to strengthen relations between Italy and southeast Asia.
Both countries play an important role in facilitating relations between ASEAN and the European Union, Di Stefano and Siregar agreed, recalling the importance of regional cooperation.
