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Latin American businesses eye opportunities in Indonesia

There is more work ahead for the government in establishing better trade ties with businesses from Latin America, as curious businesspeople from the far-flung continent visit Indonesia for the first time as part of the Indonesia-Latin America and Caribbean (INA-LAC) Business Forum

Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post)
Serpong, Banten
Tue, October 15, 2019

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Latin American businesses eye opportunities in Indonesia

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span>There is more work ahead for the government in establishing better trade ties with businesses from Latin America, as curious businesspeople from the far-flung continent visit Indonesia for the first time as part of the Indonesia-Latin America and Caribbean (INA-LAC) Business Forum.

Almost 100 businesspeople from the region have descended on Serpong, Banten, for a two-day business matching event that includes seminars and a site visit to Kiat Pulp and Paper, a manufacturer owned by Sinar Mas Group, one of Indonesia’s largest diversified conglomerates.

The forum is hosted by the Foreign Ministry, and is part of wider efforts by the ministry to lure companies from so-called “nontraditional” overseas markets to Indonesia. It is being held just ahead of the country’s annual trade fair, Trade Expo Indonesia, which begins this week.

One of the participants, Ivan Hernandez Ruiz of Mexico’s SBE Inspection and Compliance, said that Indonesian exports to his country had been increasing in the past few years, as Indonesia looks to catch up with other Asian countries that have already entered the Mexican market.

“We've been working in China for the past 15 years; we've been working with Vietnam and Bangladesh and some other countries and Indonesia has been growing especially for us in the textiles and footwear business, [so] there has been a big shift here to Indonesia,” he said on Monday.

Meanwhile, the president of the Brazil-Indonesia Chamber of Commerce, Paulo Camiz de Fonseca, said there was huge potential to be explored between Indonesia and Brazil — both the biggest countries in their respective regions — as current bilateral exchanges make up only 1.5 percent of their gross income.

“We could multiply it easily considering the size and the potential of both countries,” Fonseca, who was previously Indonesia’s honorary consul to Brazil, said.

At its current rate, Indonesia’s trade ties with the Latin American and Caribbean region is relatively small, valued at US$7.6 billion or just 0.37 percent of the region’s total trade with the world.

Darianto Harsono, the Foreign Ministry's director for South America and Caribbean affairs, said the program was a follow-up of a directive by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2017 that underscored the importance of exploring nontraditional markets including Latin America and the Caribbean.

“We hope in these two days of activities that the businesspeople of Indonesia and Latin America will get to know each other. They can recognize their potential while trying to explore the existing business potential, because so far there is still very little understanding or information about the business potential,” he said on Monday.

Sinarmas director of international corporate affairs Joice Budisusanto, meanwhile, said her company had managed to export 10,000 tons of paper products to Latin America every month while studying market shares and local regulations.

“We always see new [...] opportunities that can be explored. And while 10,000 tons seems small, because of it we can continue to work on it,” she said.

Also on Monday, the Foreign Ministry organized a seminar to increase potential for economic cooperation with members of the Pacific Alliance, including Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Peruvian Ambassador to Indonesia Julio Cardenas said his country’s trade volume with Indonesia had reached around $245 million last year, which was relatively small compared to other countries in the region. It is to that end that the two countries began working on the Indonesia-Peru Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) last year, he said.

The envoy was upbeat about turning Latin America into a destination market for Indonesian exports.

“You organized last year the meeting between African countries and Indonesia. We think that's an excellent idea and we should promote these kind of meetings and events because we are complementary economies,” he said.

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