Indonesia, India upgrade ties with 15 agreements

Indonesia and India agreed Wednesday to upgrade bilateral relations by signing more than a dozen agreements on a broad range of areas including defense, maritime affairs, trade and investment.

After meeting with visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said they agreed to make their economies open and hoped a comprehensive economic partnership can be completed this year.

The 15 agreements include cooperation in defense, exploration and use of outer space, science and technology, capacity building of public officials, dialogue and interaction between governments and think tanks as well as in health and railways.

Jokowi said that India is Indonesia's largest export trading partner in South and Central Asia with a value of nearly $15 billion while the number of Indian tourists also rose sharply, up 28 percent to nearly 500,000 in 2017.

A joint statement said the two leaders agreed to hold annual summit meetings, including on the margins of multilateral events.

Indonesia was the first leg of Modi's three-nation visit that will also take him to Malaysia and Singapore.