Li: Align Indonesia ties with Belt, Road

China would like to align the Belt and Road Initiative with Indonesia's development strategies and strengthen ties in infrastructure and other key areas, Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday.

The premier made the stance in a meeting with the visiting Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who also met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday afternoon.

China and Indonesia, as two major developing countries, share wide-ranging common interests in safeguarding regional peace and promoting shared development, Li said at the meeting in Beijing.

The two economies are highly complementary and have enormous potential for economic and trade cooperation, he said.

Li said that China is ready to work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Indonesia, to bring China-ASEAN relations to a new stage and contribute to regional development and prosperity.

Retno said her country has made leaps in progress in its relations with China. Indonesia will strengthen high-level exchanges, deepen people-to-people ties and accelerate the development of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway.

Indonesia, with the world's fourth-largest population, was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with China, in 1950. It also was one of founding members of the regional ASEAN bloc and has been one of China's important trade partners in Southeast Asia.

Trade between the two countries hit $45.7 billion in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 7.7 percent. Indonesia's exports to China reached $15 billion that year, up by 13 percent year-on-year.

Last year, China imported non-petroleum products valued at $21.3 billion from Indonesia, an increase of 41 percent, making the world's second-largest economy Indonesia's largest importer.

huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn

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