Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today wrapped up a successful visit to Indonesia, where he held talks with his counterpart, Marty M. Natalegawa, and Joko Widodo, president-elect of Indonesia.

In his meeting with Foreign Minister Natalegawa, Baird reaffirmed Indonesia as a priority political, economic and security partner for Canada.

“Indonesia is a country with which Canada shares not just strong interests but also strong values,” said Baird. “We agreed on a plan of action to guide cooperation between our two countries over the coming five years.”

The pillars of the Plan of Action are political cooperation, defence and security cooperation, economic cooperation, development cooperation and increasing people-to-people links.

Minister Baird also had the opportunity to be the first foreign minister to meet with president-elect Joko Widodo.

“I was honoured to meet with the president-elect and congratulate him on his victory in the recent election,” said Baird. “We look forward to working closely with the new Indonesian administration and strengthening our relations further.”

The next visit on Minister Baird’s Asia tour will be to Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China. For updates on the trip, consult Baird to Travel to East Asia to Talk Security and Prosperity.

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