ndonesia and Turkey signed .the eighth Joint Commission for Economic and Technical Cooperation on Thursday, on the sidelines of the Trade Expo Indonesia 2017, runs through Oct. 15 at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in BSD, Tangerang, Banten.
The cooperation aims to strengthen investment and trade between the two countries.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Fikri Işık said at the signing ceremony that the two countries needed to improve their bilateral relations. “We understand that our bilateral trade can be raise to a higher level in a balanced manner,” he said.
Read also: Trade Expo seals $16m trading contracts on first dayIşık added that Turkey sought to cooperate with Indonesia in various sectors, including energy and electricity generation, defense, halal products and ecotourism.
Trade between the two countries has been showing a downward trend since 2012, declining by an average 10.93 percent annually. Two-way trade stood at $1.3 billion last year, with Indonesia enjoying a $712.9 million surplus.
The countries have agreed to soon conduct their first negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) to boost two-way trade.
President Joko Widodo visited Turkey earlier this year in July, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's last visit to Indonesia was in 2015. (bbn)
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