Jakarta, Oct 28 (Antara) - India and Indonesia will further step up their trade and investment relations and boost cooperation in other sectors such as new energy and renewable energy development.
The two-way trade value between the two countries last year was recorded at US$19 billion while investment by Indian businesses in Indonesia stood at US$15 billion.
In order to increase the two countries' trade and investment relations, Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari will be visiting Indonesia at the invitation of his Indonesian counterpart, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, early next month.
Ansari will bring along some 50 representatives of Indian businesses who are expected to help strengthen the bilateral economic relations.
"We will sign a number of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) during the (Vice President's) Indonesian visit. The most important of these is an MoU on cooperation in the new and renewable energy field," Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Gurjit Singh said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
With trade amounting to US$19 billion and Indian investment in Indonesia having reached US$15 billion, Ambassador Singh said Indonesia is an important economic partner of India.
"India is the biggest buyer of Indonesian palm oil and coal. Last year, India imported 130 million tons of coal from Indonesia," Ambassador Singh said.
Apart from that, the presence of companies which are led and operated by 6,664 Indians in Indonesia have offered job opportunities to 250 thousand workers in the country.
All these, according to Singh, show the contribution of Indian businessmen to business development and advancement of Indonesia.
He hoped that the visit of Vice President Ansari and his delegation will further strengthen the business-to-business relations between the two countries, particularly to increase Indonesian investment in India, which he categorized as still low.
"Currently, several Indonesian businesses have begun to visit India to see business opportunities there," the ambassador said.
In order to smoothen business cooperation between India and Indonesia, Vice President Ansari will officiate the India-Indonesia Business Forum on November 3, 2015. During the forum, which will be attended by representatives of over 20 Indian companies, Ambassador Singh hoped there would be a meeting to specifically discuss economic cooperation between India and Indonesia.
"It should not be like other forums which are attended by hundreds of people. Tens of participants, who are really interested in investing in India, will be enough. The forum should discuss concrete cooperation, not just business promotion," the Indian ambassador said.
Regarding the MoUs that will be signed during the Indian Vice President's visit, the ambassador said the most important of these is an MoU on cooperation in the new and renewable energy field.
He said the MoU will serve as a frame work to begin cooperation on how India and Indonesia can share ideas and technology to develop eco-friendly energy in respective countries.
India has set a target to increase its new and renewable energy by 175 thousand megawatts in the coming seven to eight years. Some 100 thousand megawatts of this would be generated as solar energy and 40 thousand megawatts through solar roof arrangement.
"We will share this experience. India and Indonesia share the same tropical condition which enables use of solar heat all the time. We think both countries can cooperate in the solar energy generating business," Singh said.
In the meantime, Secretary General of the Indonesia-India Association Gurumurthy Naratajan said India is ready to invest and cooperate with Indonesia in the sugar business sector.
He said India can help Indonesia realize its goal of achieving self-efficiency in sugar production. "We are ready to help Indonesia achieve its goal right from the stages of plantation, processing until the last process through various investment and cooperation schemes," Gurumurthy stated on the sidelines of an agribusiness investors' meeting held in Makassar, South Sulawesi on Tuesday.
He said investment worth US$5-10 billion could be made in the sugar business sector.
Gurumurthy affirmed that India has advanced technology that would offer huge benefits to the two sides if they cooperated in that sector.
"The technology we have enables us to produce sugar efficiently at a price that could be lowered by one-third of the normal price," he noted.
The first step that could be initiated in Indonesia is to modernize the country's old sugar mills.
"Most of the sugar factories in Indonesia were built during the Dutch occupation era. Their equipment must be modernized with the implementation of new technology, so that production could be increased," Naratajan said.
In South Sulawesi, The Green Thumb, an Indian sugar company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the regional government of Bone District on the development of sugar agribusiness.
South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo stated that Indonesia's eastern regions needed sugar factories to meet the local requirement. According to Limpo, these regions therefore needed better management, investment, technology, and mechanism to advance the nation's sugar industry.
"We hope the central government would encourage the development of the sugar industry in Indonesia's eastern regions," the governor added.
India's Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari will pay an official visit to Indonesia from November 1-4 on the invitation of Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Ansari will be accompanied by his wife, State Minister for Water Resources Sanwar Lat Jat, four parliament members, several senior officials, a business delegation, and media persons, Gurjit Singh said.
"We will make preparations for the high-ranking official visit as we are aware that Indonesia is a democratic and diverse country, similar to India," he affirmed. ***3***
(A014/INE/B003)EDITED BY INE (T.A014/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 28-10-2015 22:31: |
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