A preliminary meeting between Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) in the State of Palestine was held virtually on Tuesday, May 31st, 2022. DR. BAMBANG SUGENG RUKMONO, the Deputy Attorney General for Advancements, led the parties’ meeting. Despite being held virtually, the Indonesian parties commenced the meeting on-site at the Kartika Tower of the Office of the AGO of Indonesia. The delegations of the AGO Indonesia consisted of the Head of Legal and Foreign Relations Bureau, the Head of Planning Bureau, the Head of Cooperation and Foreign Relations Division, the representative of the Directorate of Terrorism and Transnational Crimes, and the Legal Attaché of the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives were also present on-site, attended by the Director for the Middle East and representatives of the Directorate of Law, Politics, and Agreements at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia, Y.M. ZUHAIR AL-SHUN, also joined the meeting online. From the AGO Palestine, the meeting was attended by the Deputy Attorney General for Prosecution, the Director of International Judicial Cooperation, and the Director of Planning and Policy from the Palestinian prosecutor’s Office.
The meeting discussed possible cooperation between the two institutions on information exchange in the context of law enforcement, capacity building for the prosecutors of both institutions through training, and collaboration related to law enforcement in accordance to each jurisdiction. The Director of the Middle East of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia expressed that this discussion marks Indonesia’s commitment on supporting the Palestinian people.
The Attorney General’s Office of Indonesia has received the first draft of the cooperation from the Palestinian Prosecutor’s Office and is currently preparing a counter draft. Although the AGO Palestine has cooperated with 17 (seventeen) countries, the Palestinian Ambassador hoped that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) could be immediately agreed upon and signed face-to-face by the Attorney General of each party. The Deputy Attorney General for the Palestinian Prosecution Division acknowledged that the Palestinian Prosecutor’s Office, which is currently facing various incidents and extraordinary crimes, urgently needs cooperation with Indonesia to improve the capacity of its Prosecutors in prosecuting severe crimes such as terrorism and money laundering.
To further discuss and enhance the cooperation between the two nations and institutions, AGO Indonesia welcomes AGO Palestine to visit Indonesia and vice versa. However, as the world is still ridden with the pandemic, both parties agreed to carry out further discussions through electronic communication media for now.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded positively to the preliminary meeting and is ready to support the realization of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) plan between the two Prosecutors’ offices under applicable regulations.
