VN, Indonesia celebrate 55 years of relations
HA NOI – Viet Nam and Indonesia have consolidated and developed their multifaceted relationship since the establishment of diplomatic ties at the consular level in 1955. This was said by the deputy chairman of the Viet Nam-Indonesia Friendship Association, Tran Chien Thang, at a ceremony in Ha Noi yesterday to mark the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations on December 30, 1955.
Thang said two milestones of the relations were the official visit of President Ho Chi Minh to Indonesia in 1959 and that of President Sukarno to Viet Nam in the same year. Since then, high-ranking leaders of both sides have regularly visited each other and the agreements that came out of such visits laid the foundation for co-operation between the two countries.
The annual two-way trade turnover topped US$2.5 billion in 2008. As of October 2009, 22 projects by Indonesian investors totalled $198 million, ranking 30 out of 89 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam.
Indonesian Ambassador Pitono Purnomo recalled the historic moment 55 years ago when Indonesia was fourth in the world and first in Southeast Asia to set up diplomatic ties with Viet Nam because of the profound and lasting friendship between the countries' Presidents and their historic similarities.
Also yesterday, Viet Nam officially handed over its chairmanship of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR) to Indonesia, who will chair the regional group in 2011.— VNS