Japan, Indonesia agree to boost security, economic ties

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida held talks with Indonesia's president-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in which they agreed to boost security and economic ties between their two countries.

Kishida and Jokowi, who is Jakarta's governor, were believed to have discussed a range of issues, while focusing on investment.

During an interview with Kyodo News on Monday, Jokowi signaled that although he will implement measures to restrict foreign investment in some key areas like banking and natural resources, he will attach importance to investment from Japan, especially in areas such as infrastructure development.

More than 1,700 Japanese companies do business in Indonesia.

"Japan and Indonesia are important partners, and Japan (has already been) our largest partner," Jokowi said, citing a data on the two countries' total trade that has reached $46 billion.

"We need more cooperation, especially in foreign direct investment, (which is) very important for Indonesia to create jobs, to solve our energy problems, (such as) electricity, as well as (to develop) infrastructure," added the Jakarta governor, who is expected to take office as president from Oct. 20.