Hector Marcos Timerman: (JP/Veeramalla Anjaiah)

Argentina wants to establish a strategic partnership with its fourth biggest trading partner in Asia, Indonesia, and forge close cooperation in various areas, as the present level of bilateral trade is still not commensurate with the potential of both countries, according to Argentina’s top diplomat.

“The trade figures are not well represented in our bilateral relationship. We are willing to change that.
I will be talking to the Foreign Minister of Indonesia tomorrow [Wednesday] about several issues and strategic partnerships will be one of them,” visiting Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Marcos Timerman told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Timerman was invited to Indonesia by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to forge a stronger relationship between the two regional powers. Both ministers will be meeting on Wednesday. Argentina is Latin America’s third-largest economy.

The two-way trade between Indonesia and Argentine surged to almost US$2 billion in 2011, a huge jump from $632.47 million in 2007. The balance of trade is heavily in favor of Argentina. Indonesia buys more than $1 billion worth of soya bean oil cakes and other residues every year from Argentina.

When compared, the above trade was just less than 1 percent of Indonesia’s total foreign trade, which was $380.92 billion in 2011, while it was less than 2 percent Argentina’s 2011 total foreign trade of around $154 billion.

“With Indonesia, we have a special relationship. We are the members of the G20. We share the same values about the international economic order. We want to become strategic partners. We also want to work together at international forums to defend the interests of developing countries,” Timerman said.

Argentinean Ambassador to Indonesian Javier A. Sanz de Urquiza told the Post, “Indonesia is the second-biggest destination for our exports to Asia after China. In overall trade, Indonesia is our fourth-biggest trading partner.”

There is also another angle to why Argentina is interested in Indonesia, a country that has been at the front of anti-colonialism and South-South cooperation.

“We have special gratitude to Indonesia for its support to our claim to recover the Malvinas Islands [from Britain]. For all these years, Indonesia has been a true friend of Argentina on the Malvinas issue,” Timerman said, referring to the 1982 war with Britain on the disputed Malvinas Islands (called the Falklands Islands by Britain), while adding that Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner would soon visit Indonesia to convey her country’s gratitude.

But it seems, Argentina is somewhat of a late comer to rising Asia. Though diplomatic relations with Indonesia were established 56 years ago, there has yet to be a major initiative to forge a special relationship between the two countries.

According to Timerman, Argentina had tended to focus more on Europe and the US.

“We are still recovering from a severe 2001 financial crisis that hit our economy hard,” he said.

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