JAKARTA: Indonesia and Brazil agreed to boost ties and struck a series of agreements on Thursday as their leaders met in Jakarta, with Southeast Asia’s biggest economy looking to make further inroads into South American markets.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was greeted by a marching band and national anthems at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Jakarta before talks with Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto.
The pair witnessed the signing of agreements on oil, gas, electricity, technology, mining and agriculture, coming several months after US President Donald Trump imposed a tariff rate of 19 percent on imports from Indonesia under a new pact, and a 50-percent tariff on Brazilian products.
“How is it that two important countries in the world, such as Indonesia and Brazil, which together have a population of almost 500 million, only have a trade volume of $6 billion?” said Lula at a joint press conference after talks.
“This is not enough for Indonesia, and it is not enough for Brazil.”
The Indonesian leader said both countries were working to establish a free trade agreement between the Southeast Asian powerhouse and the South American bloc Mercosur, which consists of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay.
“I believe this will strengthen our relations and will make both of our economies and the economies of Latin America grow rapidly,” Prabowo told Lula.
In the press conference Prabowo called both countries “two new economic powers that are rising” which must “increase trade.”
Brazil has deepened relations with Southeast Asia in recent years, and Lula’s participation at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia that starts on Sunday — the first by a Brazilian president — marks the country’s growing political engagement in the region.
Brazil is also one of Indonesia’s main trading partners in South America.
Total trade between the two nations between January and August was worth $4.3 billion, according to Statistics Indonesia data.
The Southeast Asian nation is looking to bolster ties in Latin America, and in August signed a trade agreement with Peru.
It also joined the BRICS bloc of major emerging economies, of which Brazil is a member, in January.
Indonesia, Brazil strike cooperation deals as leaders meet
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Indonesia, Brazil strike cooperation deals as leaders meet
- Indonesia and Brazil agreed to boost ties and struck a series of agreements on Thursday as their leaders met in Jakarta
Greek coast guard search for 15 after migrant boat found adrift
- The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were on Monday searching for 15 people who fell into the water from a migrant boat that was found drifting off the coast of Crete with 17 bodies on board.
The 17 fatalities, all of them men, were discovered on Saturday on the craft, which was taking on water and partially deflated, some 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) southwest of the island.
Post-mortem examinations were being carried out to determine how they died but Greek public television channel ERT suggested they may have suffered from hypothermia or dehydration.
A Greek coast guard spokeswoman told AFP that two survivors reported that “15 people fell in the water” after the motor cut out on Thursday, then the vessel drifted for two days.
At the time, Crete and much of the rest of Greece was battered by heavy rain and storms.
The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water.
The vessel had 34 people on board and had left the Libyan port of Tobruk on Wednesday, the Greek port authorities said. Most of those who died came from Sudan and Egypt.
It was initially spotted by a Turkish-flagged cargo ship on Saturday, triggering a search that included ships and aircraft from the Greek coast guard and the European Union border agency Frontex.
Migrants have been trying to reach Crete from Libya for the last year, as a way of entering the European Union. But the Mediterranean crossing is perilous.
In Brussels, the EU’s 27 members on Monday backed a significant tightening of immigration policy, including the concept of returning failed asylum-seekers to “return hubs” outside the bloc.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
Greece’s conservative government has also toughened its migration policy, suspending asylum claims for three months, particularly those coming to Crete from Libya.
