- Foreign Secretary lands in world's fourth largest country by population
- Truss aiming to upgrade economic, tech and security ties as part of plan to build 'network of liberty' with key partners
- Visit will boost security ties in cyber and countering terrorism
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is in Jakarta today (11th November) to forge closer security and economic ties with the world's fourth most populous country on the final leg of her Southeast Asia tour.
During her visit, Liz Truss will meet President Joko Widodo and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi for talks on economic diplomacy, trade and technology dialogue, as well as foreign policy issues.
Truss sees Indonesia as a key partner for Global Britain as the world's fourth largest country by population with around 272m people.
Indonesian is forecast to more than quintuple its GDP (PPP$) by 532% between 2020 and 2050*.
Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss said:
Deeper ties with Indonesia - as the world's fourth largest country in terms of population and a present and future economic powerhouse - will help secure a successful future for Britain and deliver for our people.
Our current relationship is under powered and I want to deepen it in key areas like tech, trade, investment and security as part of plan to build a network of liberty with key partners.
During her visit the Foreign Secretary will:
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Launch the first joint working group with Indonesia's National Counter Terrorism Agency, working to counter extremism.
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Visit Indonesia's National Cyber and Crypto Agency to facilitate further collaboration across cyber-crime, security and capacity building.
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Host a Build Back Better World roundtable with senior finance executives, to promote investment in Indonesia, which will help British business.
The Foreign Secretary will also meet the ASEAN Secretary General, Dato Lim to build on the UK's recent accession to Dialogue Partner status and discuss working together to address the ongoing crisis in Myanmar.
The visit follows the recent arrival of the UK's Carrier Strike Group to the region as well as HMS Richmond's successful joint exercise with the Indonesian Navy in October.
Background
*The Economist Intelligence Unit (2021) forecast.
