Jokowi, Lee begins activities in Singapore`s Botanical Garden

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong began their activities by planting trees in Singapores Botanical Garden.

Jokowi and Lee also had morning walk and breakfast in the garden, Bey Machmudin of the Presidential Secretariat, said here, Thursday.

They later left the botanical garden for the Singaporean Presidential Palace for a formal meeting, flanked by their respective delegations.

Four issues discussed in the meeting were on investment, tourism, energy and digital economic.

They were scheduled to witness signing of several MOUs among other things on management, disaster mitigation and education cooperation, Machmudin said.

After lunch, President Jokowi and First Lady Iriana will go to Marina Bay Cruise Center to watch a joint fly pass to be performed jointly by the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) and Singapores Air Force.

The fly pass was organized to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Singapore.

In the afternoon, President Jokowi will attend Singapore and Indonesian Business and Investment Forum and one-on-one meetings with several CEOs from major companies.

Singapore is Indonesias biggest investor and source of tourists, with the number of Singaporean visitors to the country reaching 1.5 million in 2015, while Singapores investment in the year was recorded at US$5.9 billion.

Singapore has agreed to increase its investment and tourist visits to Indonesia and closer cooperation in the framework of bilateral or regional within ASEAN and multilateral cooperation.

The two countries have also agreed to boost cooperation in the framework of ASEAN, following the implementation of ASEAN Economic Community early in 2016, highlighting the huge potentials of ASEAN.

The launch of the ASEAN Economic Community is expected to strengthen the process of regional integration and improve the welfare of all people.

Source: ANTARA