Indonesian President Joko Widodo greets Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang during their meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia on February 22, 2023. Photo: VCG

China is willing to import more bulk commodities and quality agricultural and fishery products from Indonesia, and encourage leading Chinese enterprises to participate in Indonesia's major infrastructure projects, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Wednesday during a visit to the Southeast Asian country.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, during the meeting with Qin, said Indonesia and China have enjoyed fruitful practical cooperation over recent years, with bilateral trade and investment growing rapidly and China becoming the second largest source of foreign investment in Indonesia, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

He said the two sides should speed up key projects including the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, the North Kalimantan Industrial Park and the construction of the new capital, and expand cooperation in industrial chains and new energy.

Qin said that the Chinese side is willing to work with the Indonesian side under the guidance of the important consensus reached between the two leaders, adhere to high-level guidance, strategic alignment and collaboration as major countries, and seek joint development in the pursuit of modernization.

Also on Wednesday, Qin and his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi co-hosted a meeting of the Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation between the two countries. After the meeting, Qin said China and Indonesia have agreed to deepen strategic synergy and promote cooperation on trade and investment.

In 2022, the economic and trade cooperation between China and Indonesia shared in noteworthy development, with China's foreign direct investment (FDI) into Indonesia growing by 160 percent on a yearly basis to $8.2 billion, far outpacing the pre-pandemic figure of $4.7 billion, official data showed.

Last year, the bilateral trade between the two countries grew by 20 percent year-on-year to reach approximately $150 billion. Indonesia's trade surplus with China stood at $6.5 billion, which reflects a healthier trade structure.

China has become the largest trade partner of Indonesia for a consecutive 10 years and has been among the Southeast Asian country's top three FDI sources for seven years in a row.

More than 1,000 Chinese companies have invested in Indonesia, contributing to local industrial upgrade by introducing advanced technologies, offering financial support and cultivating local talent, Zhang Chaoyang, chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, who is also the manager of Bank of China Jakarta Branch, told the Global Times in a previous interview.

"The sky is the limit for China-Indonesia economic and trade cooperation," he said.