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Indonesia plays catch-up in Latin American markets
Indonesia is playing catch-up with its neighbors in the penetration of Latin American markets, amid President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s plan to boost exports to a region where Malaysia and Singapore have been increasing their presence over the past few years.
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The Koja cargo terminal of Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta looks quiet on Feb. 19. (JP/Damar Harsanto)
Indonesia is playing catch-up with its neighbors in the penetration of Latin American markets, amid President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s plan to boost exports to a region where Malaysia and Singapore have been increasing their presence over the past few years.
The Foreign Ministry is set to hold the Indonesia-Latin America and Caribbean Business Forum (INA-LAC) in Serpong, Banten, from Oct. 14-15 in an attempt to lure companies from the nontraditional markets to do business in Indonesia. The event will be held right ahead of the annual Trade Ministry-led Trade Expo Indonesia from Oct. 16-20.
Darianto Harsono, the Foreign Ministry's director for South America and Caribbean affairs, said Indonesia's trade with the Latin American and Caribbean region was relatively small at US$7.6 billion, or 0.37 percent of the region's total trade with the world.
The ministry, Darianto said, was pursuing a moderate target of $12 million worth of business deals from the INA-LAC forum, considering that this would be the first time for Indonesia to host a business forum with Latin American and Caribbean countries.
"We’ve set a realistic target based on the business matching process that has been carried out in the last few months, but of course we expect [the business deals] to be more," Darianto told a press briefing on Wednesday.
He said a lack of information about the market potential of Latin America and the Caribbean was the major obstacle for Indonesia in developing economic cooperation with the region.
In addition, the great distance makes Indonesian businesses less interested in tapping into the Latin American market and instead focus more on markets in Asia, Europe and most recently Africa, which is closer than Latin America.
