Badung – Indonesia and India will increase trade cooperation after the end of G20 summit in Bali. Indonesia’s Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan had taken an opportunity during the G20 meeting to meet the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Director General Candrajeet Banarje.
“We’ll visit India to formulate the cooperation plan between the two countries. Indonesia is also in a process of setting up a team to assess potential sectors for the bilateral cooperation,” said Zulkifli Hasan.
Previously, during an Indonesian trade mission to India last August, both countries were seeking to reach a bilateral trade agreement to increase trade and investment through various initiatives which include the ASEAN-India Trade In Goods Agreement (AITIGA). During the occasion, the Indian business players had also expressed their interest to invest in projects of infrastructure in Indonesia, such as seaports, airports, new capital city (IKN) development, development of information technology and artificial intelligence.
“We’ll make a visit to India to formulate the plan to increase bilateral cooperation. Indonesia is also in a process of establishing a team to assess the potential sectors for our bilateral cooperation,” Zulkifli Hasan said.
Based on balance of trade during the period of January-September 2022, trade volume between Indonesia and India reached US$25.5 billion, an increase of 60.3% compared to that of the same period last year. During the period, Indonesia’s exports to India reached US$17.9 billion, while its imports from India amounted to US$7.5 billion. It means that Indonesia saw a surplus of US$10.4 billion in its trade balance with India, which is the second largest importer of Indonesia’s palm oil products after China.
In 2021, total trade volume of the two countries reached US$20.9 billion. Indonesia’s exports to India reached US$13.2 billion, while its imports from India reached US$7.6 billion, resulting in Indonesia’s surplus of US$5.6 billion from its trade balance with India.
In 2021, India ranked the fourth as an export destination country and the ninth as the origin of imports for Indonesia. The main exports of Indonesia to India include palm oil products and coal, while its imports from India include half-finished steel products, sugar, peanuts, beef, and ferrous alloys.
In terms of investments in 2021, India ranked 26th as the source of foreign investments for Indonesia. India’s investments in Indonesia during the last five years (2017-2021) consist of 2,738 projects with a total value of US$534 million. (*)
Source: CNBC Indonesia
