Jakarta, Nov. 10 (ANTARA) - Indonesia whose trade with the European
Union is expected to touch about one percent this year as a result of
the global financial crisis, hopes it will be able to boost its trade in
the region going forward.
Even as its trade growth with Europe declines this year, Indonesia is
convinced that the year 2012 would lay down the basis for boosting trade
with the region next year and in the future.
There have been positive indicators from a number of European markets
such as the Netherlands, Germany, Nordic states and Eastern Europe,
where Indonesia's exports will normalize in the future, Trade Minister
Gita Wirjawan said.
He added that if the global crisis had not hit countries in Europe,
Indonesia would have been able to increase its trade with these
countries by about 5 percent to 10 percent. "But due to the economic
crisis, trade between Indonesia and the European Union was only expected
to grow by about zero to one percent," the minister said, while
inaugurating the EU-Indonesia Business Dialogue (EIBD) in Nusa Dua in
Bali on Thursday.
However, the minister expressed optimism after seeing Indonesia's trade performance in the region in 2011.
Indonesia's success in its trade with the European Union in 2011 was
one of the reasons for the country to feel optimistic. Indonesia
recorded a bilateral trade value of US$33 billion in 2011 with the
European Union.
The figure reflected that Indonesia's trade with the European Union
increased by 22 percent, compared with that in the previous year. With
that figure, Indonesia also enjoyed a surplus of US$8 billion.
The surplus could create more jobs in Indonesia and would help the country maintain its balance of payments.
According to the minister, Indonesia would continue to build
communications and establish cooperation in order to boost and maintain
future trade growth with the European Union.
"I hope the EIBD meeting will help formulate points of good
cooperation, which would benefit not only us but also other regions,"
the minister said.
He added that the business dialogue would also aim at formulating
issues not only in the field of trade, but also in the investment,
tourism, creative economy and creative building. "The capacity building
is expected to help find ways that will build better human resources and
generate a transfer of technology," the minister said.
Through cooperation with European countries, Indonesia's trade was expected to increase.
Cooperation with Britain for example, was expected to help double trade between the two countries by 2015.
According to Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa,
Indonesia hoped that its trade with Britain would double by 2015 through
enhanced bilateral ties. "The two countries' bilateral trade value has
reached US$3 billion. We hope to double it by 2015," he said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to Britain recently was also
expected to help augment investment and trade relations between the two
nations. "We seek increased cooperation in trade and investment,
particularly in energy and manufacturing, because Britain is
technologically very advanced in these sectors," Hatta stated.
Before leaving for London last week, President Yudhoyono had said that
Indonesia and Britain would focus on cooperation in the fields of trade
and investment, education, environment, democracy, and religion.
The same idea was also expressed by trade minister Gita Wirjawan. Gita
Wirjawan and his British counterpart Stephen Green have agreed to
increase their countries¿ two-way trade to US$6 billion by 2015, up from
US$2.9 billion in 2011.
The agreement was reached upon as part of the Indonesian trade
minister¿s working visit to London, Britain, last week. The minister was
there as part of the annual trade dialogue conducted between the two
countries that had been initiated since November 1, 2011.
"It is still possible to increase the value of trade as the two
countries¿ economies are basically complementary while only a small part
of the market share has been exploited," he said here on Wednesday.
Increased trade cooperation with European countries was expected to
help boost Indonesian trade balance, which had suffered from a deficit
during four consecutive months this year. However, it was able to
recover its trade surplus in August and September.
Indonesia enjoyed surplus in its trade with other countries in
September with its exports reaching US$15.9 billion and imports touching
US$15.35 billion, the statistics agency chief said.
"Indonesia enjoyed another surplus month in September 2012 after the
one in August touched US$248 million," Suryamin, the chief of the
National Statistics Agency (BPS), said.
He added that the surplus trend had been seen during the past few
months and had accumulated from January to September this year to
US$1.03 billion, with imports recorded at US$141.97 billion and exports
at US$143 billion.
"Several commodities that have boosted total export value to a surplus
in Indonesia are palm oil, mineral fuels, fat and vegetable oil," he
said, adding that Indonesia had also been able to restrict imports.
Suryamin said that although Indonesia had been able to record a surplus
in its trade with several countries, its trade with traditional
partners had shown a deficit. Therefore, trade deficit could resurface
if the government did not support local businesses to increase exports.
Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi) has predicted that
the country¿s current account deficit would resurface in the near
future, unless the government extended support to local entrepreneurs
for developing their businesses.
"Global economic conditions will force other countries to divert their
export destinations to Indonesia. Imports will flood the country and
would not be balanced with exports if local businesses are not supported
and developed," noted Raja Sapta Oktohari, general chairman of Hipmi.
He said that European countries and the United States, the major export
destinations of many countries, no longer had strong purchasing power.
In the meantime, China, which is one of the world¿s largest markets, was
also experiencing slowing economic growth.
Therefore, the government needed to support local businesses to
increase the competitive edge of products in destination countries,
including the European Union. ***2***
(T.A014/INE/a014 )
(T.A014/A/KR-BSR/A/A014) 10-11-2012 21:28:3 |
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