Indonesia and The Netherlands Strengthen defense Cooperation

Jakarta (Antara) - The defense ministers of Indonesia and the Netherlands, Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Jeanine Hennis Plasschaert, signed an MoU to strengthen defense cooperation between the two countries in Den Haag, the Netherlands. The defense MoU is an important step towards increasing the diplomatic ties between Indonesia and the Netherlands and indicated a strong commitment to strengthen the cooperation among the two countries, Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro noted in a press statement, the details of which were made available to Antara here on Thursday. "Based on mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the principles of equality, non-interference in domestic affairs, and other mutual benefits, the two countries have agreed to strengthen ties and technical partnership, which had been initiated long time ago," Purnomo emphasized. The new MoU covers cooperation through strategic dialogues on regional and international defense issues, defense official's exchange, involving both military and civil, and material cooperation that include production, maintenance and logistics support, transfer of technology, information exchange, defense personnel workshops, and the defense industry on the whole. Besides that, Indonesia and the Netherlands will jointly cooperate to ensure mutual sharing of experiences related to the military law and history, disaster mitigation, knowledge and technology, military intelligence, maritime security, and also strengthen the military personnel of both countries through education and training, joint naval exercises, logistics, and peace-keeping operations. Purnomo noted that the Netherlands had also offered full scholarships to the Indonesian navy cadets, so that they can study at the Netherlands Defense Academy. With regard to the military sector, the Netherlands has offered graduate scholarships at the Leiden University for the defense personnel. During the visit to the Netherlands, Purnomo and Plasschaert met and discussed about regional and international defense issues and the development of the Indonesian Navy's Frigate ships project. Minister Purnomo also visited the Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS) in Vlissingen, Netherlands Defense Academy (NLDA) in Breda, Leiden University, and Dutch Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) in Den Haag. (*)