JAKARTA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday said that he sought to increase the country's defense budget in an effort to support facilities at the country's military.
Joko said that Indonesian government would raise the allocation for defense and security to at least 250 trillion rupiah (about 18.717 billion U.S. dollars), or 1.5 percent of the country's GDP, in three years.
The president added that the hike could be achieved if the country's economy, which is the largest in Southeast Asia, increased 6 percent.
"Going forward, professionalized armed forces must be boosted by the development of weaponry," Joko said at the State Palace.
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