Iran Press/ Commentary: In its balanced foreign policy approach Iran aims to pursue comprehensive ties with the emerging economic powers in the world, an example of which is President Raisi's visit to Indonesia.
Iran's President had traveled to Indonesia at the official invitation of his Indonesian counterpart, where he met with the Indonesian President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Speaker of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly, and meeting with the Secretary General of ASEAN.
The Iranian president's visit to Indonesia further showed the outlines of the foreign policy it adopted, that is to strengthen its relations with the neighboring and regional countries.
Before his trip to Indonesia, Raisi had 10 trips to foreign countries: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Qatar, Oman, Uzbekistan, the UN, Kazakhstan, China, and Syria, respectively.
Indonesia was the 11th foreign travel destination of President Raisi since he took office. The destinations of the trips show his administration's belief in the development of relations with neighboring, regional, and Islamic countries.
One of the important political achievements of the former trip is the explanation of the East's place in the foreign policy of Raisi's administration and the effort to diversify the foreign policy.
The visit to Indonesia is the fourth important step of the current administration toward strengthening the East-oriented approach in the balanced foreign policy; Joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the visit to Russia, the visit to China, and recently the visit to Indonesia.
No doubt, one of the important achievements of the president's visit to Indonesia was in the economic area. What is surprising about the Iran-Indonesia ties is the low trade volume between the two Islamic countries.
The Spokesman of the Iranian Industry Ministry's Commission for Trade Development Rouhollah Latifi recently announced that the non-oil trade between Iran and Indonesia was about $965 million, out of which over $846 million of goods were exported to Indonesia and over $118 million of goods were imported to Iran.
In a joint Press conference with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo, President Raisi reported the goal set for increasing the volume of trade between the two countries up to $20 billion. They agreed to omit the dollar from the Iran-Indonesia trade and substitute it with the national currencies.
During Raisi's visit to Indonesia, 11 memoranda of cooperation were signed in different areas, including trade, medicine, culture, science and technology, and energy.
Written by: Razi Emaadi
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