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The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 03/21/2007 4:19 PM | Business
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Thailand is to promote the role of its small and medium enterprises so as to increase its trade with Indonesia.
As part of the promotion, a wide range of products, including food and beverages, beauty and healthcare products, gifts and decorative items, and stationery and toys will be displayed during a four-day exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center that is set to run from Thursday through Sunday.
""I believe that food and beverages, sugar, tapioca, cars and motorcycles are prospective products for sale in Indonesia,"" Supawadee Yamgamol, the commercial affairs attache at the Thai Embassy, told a press conference Tuesday.
Latest figures show that Indonesia's imports from Thailand declined from US$4 billion in 2005 to $3.3 billion in 2006. Among the main products imported from Thailand are rice, sugar, food and beverages.
Supawadee said that she hoped the exhibition, the second one to be held in Indonesia, would be as successful as the first one, which was held in Jakarta in 2005. The exhibition is being organized by the Thai government in collaboration with Indonesia's Trade Ministry.
""The expo in 2005 was a success, with more than 5,000 businesspeople and around 10,000 Indonesian visitors attending it,"" said Supawadee.
The previous exhibition, she said, had resulted in orders worth $600,000.
While the two ASEAN countries have had official trade ties for more than five decades, Thailand is only Indonesia's ninth biggest trading partner, while Indonesia is Thailand's 10th biggest trading partner. (06)