President Joe Biden intends to urge Indonesian President Joko Widodo to take a more active role in resolving the conflict between Israel and Hamas, US officials say.
Biden and Widodo will hold talks at the White House on Monday.
Let us remind you that the meeting will take place before Biden’s upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco this week.
At the same time, according to officials, the US-Indonesia summit agenda will also include finding ways to end the external conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“I think it will be extremely important to hear Indonesia’s perspective on the current conflict in the Middle East,” a senior administration official told reporters on Sunday.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (file photo)
“I think the president will expect Indonesia to play a bigger role as we move forward,” he said.
An administration spokesperson explained that the agenda included a ceasefire as well as long-term issues, particularly the implementation of a two-state solution and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after the conflict.
He highlighted that Indonesia is playing an increasingly important global role, recalling that it recently demonstrated this by participating in international efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Widodo’s visit to Washington comes ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.
On Wednesday, President Biden will meet with Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit. These will be his first talks with a Chinese leader since the G20 summit in Bali in November 2022.
