Saudi king to work with Indonesia to combat Islamic State - ambassador

Saudi Arabia's King Salman is expected to sign 10 agreements during his visit to Indonesia, with a focus on combating militant group Islamic State, the kingdom's ambassador to Indonesia told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Saudi king, who on Sunday kicked off a month-long Asian tour to build ties and seek investment opportunities, will be in Indonesia March 1-12, envoy Osama Mohammad Abdullah Alshuaibi said.

"There are a lot of MOUs (memorandum of understanding) to be signed here. The most important is anti-terrorism because we find that we should work together to defeat ISIS," he said, using one of the acronyms for Islamic State.

The authorities in Indonesia, an officially secular state with the world's largest Muslim population, have grown increasingly concerned after a series of attacks over the past year blamed on supporters of Islamic State.

Saudi Arabia and Indonesia will also work together on other areas, such as oil and gas and education, Alshuaibi said.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco, which has an existing agreement with Indonesian state energy firm Pertamina for a $5 billion refinery upgrade in Central Java, may take on more projects offered by Pertamina later this year, he said.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)