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ndonesia is expanding trade opportunities in South Korea and this time, the move will excite Koreans’ taste buds.

It’s a must for Kyungjin Lee to drink coffee every day after lunch. The South Korean journalist is especially fond of coffee from Java and claims that her taste is shared by many other Koreans.

That is why she was ecstatic when she learned that the Indonesian government was planning to open a coffee shop in South Korea in the next few months. It will be located on the Bojeong-dong Café Street, Gyeong gi province, near Seoul.

“People love going to Bojeong-dong Café Street. It’s so crowded, especially on the weekends. So I think it [the café] will do well because young people are always looking for new places to hang out,” she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

When the shop is established, visitors will get to taste Indonesia’s finest coffee, namely luwak (civet) from Denpasar, Bali; preanger from Bandung, West Java; and several other special varieties from Temanggung, Central Java, that the government expects will help drive its coffee exports higher to South Korea.

Data from the Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC) shows that South Korea imported around US$547.05 million-worth of coffee last year, with a tiny 1 percent of that amount coming from Indonesia.

For the government, the figure reflects the vast export potential that coffee has to offer. Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprise Minister Anak Agung Gede Ngurah Puspayoga is scheduled to visit the site of the shop in September.

Space for the shop itself is provided by the South Korean government. The shop will allow the Indonesian government to kill two birds with one stone as it will also feature products of Indonesian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Indonesian bakers stand a chance to expand to South Korea as well, with an intensive bakery workshop provided by the South Korean government. The workshop is a follow-up to a partnership agreement on SMEs signed last month.

The South Korean government will partner with Indonesian food giant Indofood Sukses Makmur to hold the workshop for SMEs in Indofood’s network. In the initial stage, the products will be distributed to several retail outlets around Greater Jakarta.

“Our entrepreneurs will be trained to make bread according to their standards, so that eventually they can be exported to South Korea and meet people’s tastes there,” Puspayoga said.

There are already several South Korean-owned or South Korean-style bakeries in Indonesia, including Tous Les Jour, which is owned by South Korean conglomerate CJ Group.

I Wayan Dipta, the ministry’s assistant for SME studies, said the collaboration in coffee and bread could be the start of a long-term partnership between Indonesia and South Korea.

He said the ministry would immediately form a joint committee comprising representatives of relevant ministries from both countries to identify potential SME products to be promoted further in the future. (vps/tas)