Foreign and Military Affairs

China, Indonesia should expand economic co-op

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-03 00:47

JAKARTA - Visiting Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said on Friday in Jakarta that China and Indonesia should make use of the opportunity of China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone to further expand their bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Chen made a speech at the luncheon held by the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

He said that China and Indonesia had their bilateral economic cooperation withstand the test of the global financial crisis, and achieved new development, especially in the field of infrastructure construction.

He said that the investment by Chinese companies in Indonesia is growing fast. "Last year $220 million of new investments were made, up 29 percent from the previous year. China 's investments to Indonesia are predicted to grow even faster in the years to come."

Chen said that China would encourage its businesses to import more machinery and electronic products, natural rubber, textile, palm oil, tropical fruits, minerals and light industry goods from Indonesia, so as to improve the trade structure.

China would also encourage and support competent businesses to invest in Indonesia, and set up factories in areas such as textile, steel, cement to improve the competitiveness of relevant industries through leveraging our respective advantages, Chen said.

The minister also said China would enhance input in the infrastructure sector, and advance the progress of major cooperation projects between the two sides.

Besides, he said that he expected both sides to continue to work closely together, enhance communication, and jointly advance the cooperation within the region on trade and investment facilitation, capacity building and emergency disaster relief, amongst others, under the multilateral frameworks such as the 10+1, 10+3, WTO and APEC.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Minister of Trade Mari Pangestu said that the trade and economic cooperation between China and Indonesia kept improving since the two sides launched strategic partnership.

In 2009, Indonesia's non-oil export value to China grew from $7.8 billion to $8.9 billion. Statistics from Indonesian source show its export to China in the first two month of this year surged by 138 percent.

She added that China and Indonesia, with a strong complementarity, are coming across a good opportunity to expand their trade and economic cooperation, thanks to many positive factors, such as the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone.

Indonesia hoped to improve trade with China to realize a fast, sustainable and mutual-benefitial development, and push their investment cooperation to a higher level, she said.

Mari also said that Indonesia hoped to enhance its coordination and cooperation with China in regional and international economic and trade affairs.

The Chinese delegation arrived in Jakarta on Thursday and flied to yogyakarta on Friday evening to attend the 10th meeting of Sino-Indonesian Trade and Economic Joint Committee.