JETCO, an annual ministerial dialogue begun in April 2021, established working groups on renewable energy and green growth as well as on food and beverages and on agriculture to identify opportunities for concrete cooperation.

Indonesia and the UK also explored the possibility of a free trade agreement (FTA), according to Indonesian Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi, who said he was expecting the agreement to materialize “sooner rather than later”.

“This is a very good platform, and hopefully this will be the start of a new beginning in the relationship between the UK and Indonesia,” Lutfi told reporters in a virtual briefing on Wednesday.

The JETCO meeting comes at a time when the UK is seeking to boost trade with Indo-Pacific countries following its divorce from the European Union. The next JETCO meeting is to be held in London.

After visiting Indonesia, UK Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan went to Singapore and Japan. She also met with Lim Jock Hoi, the secretary-general of ASEAN, in Jakarta.

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Currently, the UK is not a major export or import partner for Indonesia. The country’s exports to and imports from the UK each accounted for less than 1 percent of the total in 2021, according Statistics Indonesia (BPS).

Indonesia booked a nearly 15 percent increase in exports to the UK to US$1.47 billion last year. The Indonesian Trade Ministry reported on Wednesday that the main commodities comprised wooden house-building materials, footwear and palm oil.

The country’s imports from the UK, meanwhile, grew by 14.04 percent to $1.09 billion, BPS data show. Paper, medicines and electrical devices for telephone networks were the main goods shipped to Indonesia.

The latest trade value of $2.57 billion was “way below” what Indonesia and the UK could achieve, Lutfi said.

Trevelyan, who was on her first visit to Indonesia, also said there was huge potential to develop trade and investment for the benefit of both economies.

“For food and drink and agricultural commodities, I look forward to progress that allows new products, from both our countries, to find space in the others’ shops and supermarket shelves. I have no doubt that Indonesian food and drink can be popular in the UK.”

Trevelyan also said that four companies were interested in coming and working in Indonesia on renewable energy, in particular tidal energy. However, Indonesia’s local content requirement posed a challenge to investment and the development of technology in this sector, she said.

Interest in renewable energy projects in Indonesia has picked up as the country seeks to expand the share of green energy in the national energy mix to 23 percent by 2025 and thereby gradually phase out coal.

“I believe that we have identified a route for expanding our future trading relationship, and I envisage the UK investment to spread,” said Trevelyan.

Indonesia recorded $322.9 million worth of realized investment from Britain in 2021, according to the Investment Ministry. This figure accounted for 1.03 percent of the realized foreign direct investment (FDI).

Trevelyan also came to see Jakarta’s MRT, which British firms helped design. She said there was a great opportunity for British firms and financing to play a role in the next phase of the railway network’s development.