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S President Barack Obama’s promise that the US would become Indonesia’s number one partner in trade and investment looks to become reality.

Just six months after the US president received a celebrity’s welcome on his visit to Indonesia, an Indonesian official said Sunday that bilateral trade value between the countries reached US$6.5 billion in the first three months of the year, an 18 percent increase from the same period last year.

Foreign Ministry director general for American and European affairs, Retno L.P. Marsudi, said the US still ranked as Indonesia’s fourth largest trade partner, behind Japan, China and Singapore, as of last year, with two-way trade totaling $24 billion, but signs that the world’s largest economy would climb higher in the ranking were clear.

Last year’s figure was an increase of 32 percent from 2009 despite a slowdown in the US economy.

The US has overtaken the UK as the second-largest foreign investor in Indonesia based on figures from January to March. Singapore remains the largest investor.

However, Retno said, with $930.8 million in realized foreign direct investment in 2010, the US was the third-largest foreign investor after Singapore and the UK.

She said there was still room for Indonesia to enter the US market, given that total bilateral trade was $24 billion last year and that the US had a population of more than 300 million people and Indonesia 237 million.

“We want to address all aspects of [our trade and investment relationships with the US] because trade and investment is the bread and butter of bilateral relations,” she told The Jakarta Post ahead of a joint commission meeting (JMC) between Indonesia and the US here on the sidelines of a series of ASEAN meetings.

“We are therefore intensively pursuing [to move] this issue [forward], based on Obama’s earlier statements that ‘we don’t want to be number four, we don’t want to be number two, we want to be the number one partner in trade and investment with Indonesia’.”

Retno added that the two countries were examining opportunities in trade and investment that could be further enhanced despite trade barriers.

“Our total bilateral trade was only $24 million last year. It seems there are a lot of opportunities [that we have not seized],” she said.

“Both sides have concerns. The US has several standards that make it difficult for our [products to enter the US]. The same applies in Indonesia. For example, all products entering Indonesia must be accompanied with labels in Indonesian. We will address this in a working group discussion on trade and investment.”

Indonesia is also taking a pragmatic approach by bringing business players from both countries closer to increase contact, Retno said.

She said US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was expected to make an address at a regional entrepreneurship summit on Saturday in Bali as part of an engagement Indonesia and the US worked on to enhance bilateral relations in trade and investment.

The US Embassy in Jakarta said a US delegation of 11 leading American entrepreneurs and early-stage investors would also attend the summit.

Clinton will be in Bali from Thursday to Saturday, a visit described by State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland as showing the US’ “sustained commitment” to enhance its strategic engagement in Southeast Asia and, particularly, with ASEAN, the 10-member grouping currently chaired by Indonesia.

Her program is flanked by a wide range of talks that will include preparatory meetings with foreign ministers of the East Asia Summit (EAS) for Obama’s maiden participation in the 18-nation summit in November.