Chinese, Indonesian FMs co-chair meeting on bilateral cooperation in Beijing

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday co-hosted the fifth meeting of the Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation between China and Indonesia with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Beijing.

Marsudi is paying a visit to China from Thursday to Saturday at the invitation of Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

During the meeting, Marsudi pledged her country's support for China, and called China one of Indonesia's most important strategic partners.

"We enjoy very much our relations, including on the economic fields. On trade for example, we enjoyed an increase of 171 percent on bilateral trade from 2014 to 2024, and the investment has exceeded 37 billion U.S. dollars now," said Marsudi.

Wang said he appreciates Marsudi's role in promoting bilateral ties over the past decade. He reaffirmed that China will continue to open up its economy.

"China will further deepen reform and promote Chinese-style modernization. The acceleration of high-quality development in China and the expansion of high-level opening-up will bring new opportunities for cooperation between China and Indonesia as well as regional development," said Wang.

Noting that China and Indonesia are important forces in the Global South, Wang said solidarity and cooperation between the two countries should be strengthened to promote global development and a multi-polar world.

Chinese, Indonesian FMs co-chair meeting on bilateral cooperation in Beijing

The European Central Bank (ECB) cut all three key eurozone interest rates for the second time this year, as falling inflation, driven by lower energy prices, created space for further monetary easing.

The decision came after the ECB's monetary policy meeting on Thursday at its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.

The deposit facility rate, which reflects the ECB's monetary policy stance, was lowered by 25 basis points to 3.50 percent. The main refinancing rate, the rate banks pay when borrowing from the ECB, dropped by 60 basis points to 3.65 percent. The marginal lending rate, the rate charged for overnight loans, was also cut by 60 basis points to 3.90 percent.

In June, the bank reduced all three key rates by 25 basis points, the first cut since pausing its rate hikes in October 2023. In July, the ECB chose to keep the rates steady.

Preliminary data released by Eurostat on August 30 showed that eurozone inflation dropped to a three-year low of 2.2 percent in August, primarily due to declining energy prices.

Analysts said the sharp decline in inflation paved the way for the ECB's latest move to ease monetary policy in September.

ECB cuts eurozone rates as inflation hits two-year low