Former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta conveyed Italy’s interest in boosting economic ties and investing more in Indonesia in Jakarta on Monday.

“Despite this period of domestic political turbulence in Indonesia, Italy trusts Indonesia,” said

Letta founded the Italy-ASEAN Association and was prime minister of Italy from 2013 to 2014.

“Next year, we want to invest more in Indonesia. We are not troubled [by domestic matters in Indonesia] and we are sure that Indonesia can overcome this present turbulence,” said Letta, adding that Italian companies were very much interested in investing in various sectors, including in infrastructure, energy and automotives.

“Our country is at the top with geothermal renewable energy technology. So we think that we can have very good joint cooperation in this area. We want to help them invest, not to sell goods only,” he said.

Letta said Italy and ASEAN had agreed to conduct the first Italy-ASEAN forum to be held in Jakarta and Milan next year, in conjunction with ASEAN’s 50th anniversary, “to establish a closer relationship between Italian entrepreneurs and Indonesian entrepreneurs”.

He said hundreds of Italian business delegates and several ministers would come to Indonesia to participate in the event.

Letta said during his visit here that he had met the ASEAN secretary-general Le Luong Minh to strengthen economic relations between Italy and ASEAN member states.

“We want to make Italian entrepreneurs more aware of the opportunities they can have here in ASEAN. [We also] want to encourage Italian companies and entrepreneurs to invest in Indonesia and in ASEAN countries,” he said.

Based on data from the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, realized Italian investment from January to March in 2016 was US$15.06 million. According to the Trade Ministry, Indonesia enjoyed a trade surplus of $504.69 million in 2015 with total trade between Indonesia and Italy worth $3.24 billion.

The value of Indonesian exports to Italy in 2015 reached $1.87 billion, while imports hit $1.3 billion.

Italian Ambassador to Indonesia Vittorio Sandalli said the main export commodities from Indonesia to Italy were oil and gas and timber, while Italy exported industrial machinery to Indonesia.

“One of the targets of the Indonesian government is to revitalize Indonesian industry and Italy is ready to participate in this process with our expertise,” Sandalli said.

He further said that among ASEAN member states, Indonesia had generated the fourth-largest amount of investment in Italy.

“ASEAN is a success story for the future,” Letta said, adding that ASEAN’s process of further integration was “a great decision.”

“Italy-Indonesia, Italy-ASEAN, there is room to improve. We can have more exchanges and more investment.” (sha)

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