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Ukraine rapidly expanding economic relations with RI
Serhii L
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Serhii L. Tarhonii: JP
Ukraine considers Indonesia one of its most important strategic partners in Asia, and both countries economic links are rapidly improving, the Ukraine embassy’s charge d’affaires, Serhii L. Tarhonii, says.
“Ukraine has always considered Indonesia one of its most strategic partners in the Asian region and will further develop its friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation with Indonesia,” Tarhonii told The Jakarta Post recently in connection with the celebration of Ukrainian National Day, which fell on Monday.
Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe after Russia, with a population of 46 million, attained its independence from the then Soviet Union on Aug. 24, 1991.
Indonesia recognized the independence of Ukraine on Dec. 28, 1991, and established diplomatic relations on June 11, 1992. Since then, relations between Ukraine and Indonesia have been improving rapidly, especially in the economic field.
“The best example of our growing relations is our bilateral trade, which almost reached US$1.5 billion in 2008,” Tarhonii said.
During the last five years, bilateral trade between Ukraine and Indonesia more than doubled to reach $1.4 billion in 2008, a huge increase from just under $500 million in 2004.
The balance of trade is heavily in favor of Ukraine. For example, it exported around $924 million worth of goods — mainly steel, chemicals, fertilizers and wheat — to Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
For its part, Indonesia exported around $484 million worth of goods — mainly palm oil, leather, garments, furniture, tea and coffee — to Ukraine.
However, the global financial crisis hit both countries exports hard, and consequently bilateral trade plunged to around $200 million during the first five months of 2009 — a 70 percent drop from around $670 million during the same period in 2008.
“It’s a temporary phenomenon. We hope things will be better next year, but our wheat exports to Indonesia are growing rapidly,” Tarhonii said.
As well as these strong economic links, both countries have also worked towards new areas of cooperation. In October 2008, both countries signed a framework agreement on cooperation in space exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.
“[The agreement] will open up new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in the area of space exploration and all related spheres,” Tarhonii said.
Another important benchmark in bilateral cooperation, Tarhonii added, was the recent Second Joint Session of Intergovernmental Commission on Economic and Technical Cooperation, which was held on June 2, 2009, in Jakarta. During the meeting, both countries signed the Protocol of the Second Joint Session, and an agreement on cooperation between the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its Indonesian counterpart, KADIN.
“With the signing of this agreement, our two countries, entrepreneurs and businesses will have many more opportunities to establish business contacts, develop cooperation and increase the bilateral volume of trade,” Tarhonii said.
