Thailand's foreign minister meets his Indonesian counterpart in Jakarta
Indonesia's Foreign Ministers Retno Marsudi welcomed her Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai in Jakarta on Thursday (February 11), before sitting down for bilateral talks aimed at strengthening relations between the two countries. At a news conference after their meeting, they said they had focused on bilateral issues including transnational crime and economic ties. "What we discuss is on the need to strengthen our cooperation on combating transnational organized crime and the issue that we cover among others is on the combating and countering extremism, terrorism, drug trafficking, irregular movement of person and combating wildlife trafficking," Marsudi told reporters. "We welcome also all these points about the economic ties which we need to forge much closer, bringing the figures up, in particular the trade and tourism," said Pramudwinai. The visit is the first since Pramudwinai was officiated in August 2015. Indonesia and Thailand are both members of the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping, and have long had bilateral ties. Leaders of the two countries are due to attend an ASEAN Summit in California next week for talks expected to discuss the region's relationship with the United States and issues such as the region's counter-terrorism efforts.