Investment Coordinating Board chairman Gita Wirjawan and deputy trade minister Mahendra Siregar will brief 150 Indonesian and Australian businesspeople at a two-day conference in Yogyakarta on new business opportunities within bilateral economic ties.
The annual conference of the Indonesia Australia Business Council (IABC), beginning Monday, will discuss new ways of further developing business ties between the two countries amid the green shoots sprouting in the industrialized economies and a robust recovery in Indonesia.
"The perception among Australian businesspeople towards Indonesia is quite positive, and they are looking forward to even better trade and investment opportunities during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's second administration," IABC executive director Vic Halim told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Convened under the theme "Creating Our Destiny", the meeting will discuss issues related to natural resource and infrastructure development, tourism, small and medium-enterprise partnership, taxation, financing and labor regulations.
"I am confident that Indonesia, as one of the three countries in Asia still posting high *4.3 percent* growth this year, will offer better trade and investment opportunities," Halim added.
Indonesia was Australia's 13th largest trading partner last year, with two-way trade of merchandise (commodities) and services totaling about US$10 billion.
Indonesia is Australia's 18th largest investment destination with a cumulative stock of capital investment amounting to nearly $4 billion.
According to the Central Statistics Agency, two-way trade of commodities expanded from US$5.6 billion in 2006 to $6.4 billion in 2007 and $8.1 billion in 2008, and was virtually balanced between exports and imports.
Indonesian exports to Australia comprise mainly crude oil, wood, paper and electronic products.
Meanwhile, its main imports from Australia are live animals, dairy products, wheat, sugar and aluminum.
The IABC and its sister organization AIBC hold annual conferences alternately in Indonesia and Australia, and the meeting in Yogyakarta will coincide with IABC's 20th anniversary.
However, the IABC meeting is only one of a series of annual forums held alternately in Australia and Indonesia to discuss bilateral cooperation.
In addition to the annual Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Forum, the trade ministers of both countries also convene an annual meeting.
The latest annual trade ministers' meeting, which was held in Sydney last February, welcomed the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and the final draft of the Joint Feasibility Study on an Indonesia-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
A study by the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) has concluded that demand in Indonesia for consumer imports is strong, identifying major export opportunities for Australian companies in agribusiness, food and beverages, consumer products (fashion items and cosmetics), ICT (mobile telephony) and mining supplies.
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