Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani met in Tehran on Wednesday to discuss various issues including bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries.

In a press statement from the Press, Media, and Information Bureau of the State Secretariat, received here on Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno LP Marsudi said President Jokowi on his state visit to Iran met with President Rouhani and Iranian Parliament leader Ali Larijani.

Retno noted that the meeting to discuss bilateral cooperation was a friendly exchange, where the Iranian president expressed hope for improved tourism cooperation between the two countries with a direct flight from Jakarta to Tehran.

"We will study the introduction of a direct flight, but in principle, the two leaders agreed on the importance of common efforts to increase cooperation in tourism," Retno remarked.

Meanwhile, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan, who accompanied President Jokowi on the state visit to Iran, said numerous agreements of cooperation between the two countries were reached at the meeting.

Jonan said that among the agreements signed was one on energy cooperation in oil and gas, which was the focus of President Jokowis visit to Iran.

Another agreement involved the joint management of two oil fields in Ab-Teymoura and Mansouri and the development of a refinery with a capacity of 300 thousand barrels, with a total investment of $5 billion.

Iran has one of the worlds largest energy reserves, so diversifying energy cooperation is very important for Indonesias national energy resilience, Jonan stated.

Minister Jonan said the two countries discussed cooperation between state-owned energy company Pertamina and National Iranian Oil Company as well as between state power company PT PLN and Mapna Group (Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company).

"The president director of PLN has also been here. Discussions on technical cooperation especially in the field of gas turbines will also be held between Magna and PLN," Jonan confirmed.

Pertamina recently sought cooperation with Iran in oil and gas management, including the supply of liquefied petroleum gas and oil, and investments in Indonesias oil and gas upstream sector.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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