Indonesia, China to bring back Joint Commission

JAKARTA - An Indonesian senior official said that Indonesia and China have agreed to reactivate a joint commission that has been inactive for eight years to help the two countries expand their bilateral ties, the Jakarta Globe reported on Friday.

The Indonesia-China Joint Commission was set to meet in Jakarta on Friday, with the Indonesian delegation led by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and the Chinese delegation by his visiting Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.

"This will be the second meeting of the joint commission after the first one, which was held in 2004. The commission is now being re-activated," Dewi Wahab, director for East Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday.

She said both countries agreed to resurrect the commission in March during a meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing.

The commission would facilitate bilateral partnerships in a wide range of sectors, including investment, trade, defense, agriculture, energy and tourism.

She added that officials from the Defense Ministry, the Trade Ministry, the Education and Culture Ministry, and the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry would be present.

"The Forestry Ministry is also part of the joint commission because of a plan to exchange pandas and Komodo dragons between China and Indonesia," she said.