Conferment of Distinguished Service Order on Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investments of the Republic of Indonesia Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan was conferred the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Distinguished Service Order) by President Halimah Yacob on 5 June 2023 at the Istana. The conferment ceremony was attended by Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean, and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

Coordinating Minister Luhut was conferred the Distinguished Service Order for his significant contributions to bilateral relations between Singapore and Indonesia. In his various capacities over the years, Coordinating Minister Luhut has worked closely with Singapore to strengthen bilateral relations, including as Indonesia's Ambassador to Singapore from 1999 to 2000, Minister of Industry and Trade from 2000 to 2001, and Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs from 2015 to 2016. In his current role as Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investments, he played a pivotal role in the negotiation and ratification of a set of agreements under an Expanded Framework, namely, the Agreements on the Realignment of the Boundary between the Jakarta Flight Information Region (FIR) and the Singapore FIR, Defence Cooperation, and Extradition of Fugitives. The conclusion of the Agreements show that longstanding and complex bilateral issues can be resolved in an open, constructive, and mutually beneficial manner. This has paved the way for our two countries to focus on the broadening of bilateral cooperation in emerging global priority areas such as climate change and sustainability.

Prior to the conferment ceremony, Coordinating Minister Luhut, who is in Singapore from 5 to 7 June, paid a courtesy call on Acting Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, and separately met with Senior Minister Teo, during which they discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

5 JUNE 2023