Danish State Visit to Indonesia, Day One

Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik of Denmark today officially began the first state visit of a Danish head of state to Indonesia, starting with an official welcoming at the Presidential Palace from President Joko Widodo.

The ceremony included the customary inspection of the guard of honour outside the Palace, and the national anthems of both countries were played before a meeting took place inside, where a number of bilateral agreements were signed by the appropriate Danish and Indonesian ministers.

Afterwards, Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik headed over to the opening of the business delegation summit at Jakarta Port and witnessed the signing of a business partnership between Denmark and Indonesia. Separate engagements took up the afternoon – the Queen visited the Wayang Museum where she saw a shadow puppet show by Ki Purbo Asmoro and then went to a children’s centre, while Prince Henrik attended a maritime seminar and then an agriculture conference.

President Widodo hosted a state banquet at the Palace in the evening, where both he and Queen Margrethe delivered speeches. In her speech, the Danish monarch recalled that though Indonesia has only been an independent country for seventy years, the relationship between Denmark and Indonesia stretches back further than that as Danish merchants have used the country’s ports for centuries.

Filed under Denmark
Tagged Bilateral Relations, Children, Indonesia, Margrethe II of Denmark, President Widodo of Indonesia, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort, State Visit.