Following the announcement, Widodo received congratulations from heads of state across the world, including Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Japan and the United Kingdom among others. According to Widodo, Barack Obama called him in Indonesian, giving his congratulations and saying that he looked forward to meeting him in the APEC conference in China. He was sworn in on 20 October 2014, followed by a ceremonial parade from the Hotel Indonesia roundabout to Istana Merdeka.