Address at FCCI: Indonesian diplomat calls for three-fold increase in trade volume

FAISALABAD: “Bilateral trade volume between Indonesia and Pakistan could be enhanced to three folds but we must make concerted and collaborated efforts to achieve this target,” said Rahmat Hindiarta Kusuma, chargé d’affaires of the Indonesia Embassy.

Addressing the business community in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), he expressed satisfaction over the cordial and brotherly relations between the two countries and said that “next year we would celebrate 75th anniversary of our diplomatic relations in under-construction East Kalimantan, new capital of Indonesia in the island of Borneo.”

He also mentioned the Trade Expo Indonesia-2024 and said the business community of Faisalabad must participate in it to give a quantum jump to its trade not only to Indonesia but also to the ASEAN countries.

He said a large number of tourists visited Indonesia every year but the number of Pakistani tourists was quite negligible, adding that “we must incentivize Pakistani tourists to spend their vacations in the virgin land of Indonesia.”

He said Indonesian government was offering education scholarships to 400 Pakistani students. “This number could be further enhanced to promote people to people contacts,” he said, adding the Indonesian embassy had chalked out a new strategy to promote direct contacts between the business communities of the two countries to further enhance bilateral economic relations.

Earlier, Acting President FCCI Dr Sajjad Arshad welcomed the Indonesian diplomats and introduced Faisalabad and FCCI. He said Faisalabad was strategically located in the heart of Pakistan which had direct links with the rest of the country through rail, road and air.

He said FCCI had more than 9,000 members hailing from 118 sectors and sub-sectors of the economy.

He said textile was an iconic identification of Faisalabad which provided 40 percent jobs to the workforce, adding “the share of textile in total export of Pakistan is 60 percent, out of which a major portion is contributed by Faisalabad alone.”

He said “Pakistan is importing palm oil while we are exporting rice and kinnow to this brotherly country.” He said Pakistan had potential to export rice and textile products worth $10bn to Indonesia. “Similarly, there is potential to export beef to this country,” he said, adding the current trade balance was heavily in favour of Indonesia and “we must improve it by exporting more and innovative products to this country.”

Executive Member Muhammad Azhar Chaudhary offered a vote of thanks and said that Indonesia was a huge market of 280 million population. He termed Indonesia as the hub of ASEAN and said that “we could also have access to ASEAN countries through Indonesia.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024