JAKARTA, Indonesia – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s first state visit in Indonesia was “very productive,” Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said on Monday after the 2 Southeast Asian leaders met for the first time.

Marcos was “surprised” that talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo progressed quickly, covering several sectors and industries, Cruz-Angeles said in a press conference here.

“It was very productive, extremely so because the President did not expect that the talks between him and President Widodo would progress so rapidly in such a short time,” she said.

“What was surprising is the President’s willingness – President Widodo’s willingness to cooperate and also his statement regarding ASEAN and the reliance on ASEAN as a structure for which we can cooperate on matters like defense and so on,” she said.

Widodo said that “Indonesia wishes to ensure that ASEAN remains an engine of peace, stability, peace and prosperity in the region” and “underlined the importance of… concrete and inclusive cooperation.”

“Trade is such an important part of what we spoke and what we have agreed upon in today’s discussions,” Marcos said.

“We continue to work on growing our relationship to making it stronger. So much so that in actual fact our discussions progressed so rapidly that we,” he said.

The Philippines and Indonesia have “agreed to organize task forces already to meet and discuss even at a technical level, no longer at the political or the diplomatic level,” Marcos said, without specifying the nature of this Philippine-Indonesian panels.

The task forces were formed “to be able to take a full advantage of the opportunities that we feel that are available to us, and that we will need to exploit to succeed in the near future,” he said.

“These partnerships that we make with all our partners and allies and friends around the world will be of critical importance so that we remain stable as we grow out of the pandemic economy,” the Filipino chief executive said.

“We work together and help each other to develop regional peace and regional development,” he said.

Marcos and Widodo witnessed the exchange for 4 agreements that seek to further deepen the Philippines and Indonesia’s 73 years of bilateral relations.

Among these agreements are a 5-year plan that outlines the bilateral commitments of the 2 countries, the renewal of the 25-year-old Defense and Security Cooperative Agreement.

The Philippines and Indonesia are also pushing to work together to provide more opportunities in the creative economy of both countries, particularly for those working in architecture, theater, fashion, and other creative industries.