Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and the United States will sign two memorandum of understanding (MoU)s during the US Secretary of State John F. Kerrys visit to Indonesia on February 15-17, 2014, according to Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.

"Both sides will discuss a number of bilateral issues during Kerrys working visit. Besides that, Indonesia and the United States will also sign two MoUs on two fields," Marty Natalegawa stated here on Thursday.

The first MoU to be signed will be in the field of South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

"This MoU is a form of cooperation involving Indonesia and the United States with the aim of offering cooperation to a third-party state in the framework of increasing the capacity of the state in certain fields such as development, democracy, and human resources," the minister noted.

In the meantime, the second MoU will cover issues on wildlife protection and eradication of wildlife smuggling.

"Hopefully, we will be more heedful to wildlife smuggling activities. So, during Kerrys visit we will sign an MoU on that field," Marty Natalegawa added.

According to the Indonesian foreign minister, the US secretary of states visit to Indonesia is part of his tour of the Asian countries. In his Asian tour, Kerry will visit several countries, which include South Korea, China, and Indonesia.

Kerrys last visit to Indonesia was when he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Bali.

"During his current visit, Kerry will focus on increasing bilateral relations. Indonesia and the United States have established comprehensive partnership cooperation since 2010," Marty claimed.

"Comprehensive partnership refers to the broad relations shared between Indonesia and the US in the field of politics, economy, security, social, and culture," he emphasized.

In this regard, Marty noted that an action plan should be drawn up to provide substance and weight to the efforts on increasing bilateral ties between the two countries.

"Indonesia and the United States will have a joint commission meeting, which will be held periodically. We will discuss the joint commission meeting plan during this meeting," the Indonesian foreign minister explained.

According to the United States Embassy here, Kerry will co-chair the Joint Commission Meeting under the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership.

Jen Psaki, the Department spokesperson, remarked in a press statement posted on the website of the US embassy that the Secretary will reiterate that the United States values Indonesias growing leadership on global challenges and looks forward to continue working with Indonesia on issues including climate change, security, democracy, regional integration, and human rights.

During his meeting with the ASEAN Secretary General in Jakarta, he will also underline the importance of our engagement with Asias multilateral institutions. This is the Secretarys fifth trip to Asia in the past one year, Jen added.

In Seoul, the Secretary will meet with senior government officials and reaffirm the strength of the U.S.-ROK alliance, discuss ways to expand our cooperation on regional and global issues, and continue our close coordination with the ROK on North Korea.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014