I have no doubt that should nasi goreng come to Kazakhstan, it will be a big hit. After all, we love our food as well, and our dishes range from meat dishes such as beshbarmak to rice dishes such as pilaf. These are dishes that we are also eager to share with our Indonesian friends.

Indeed, food is one of the many and growing areas that both Indonesia and Kazakhstan can both enjoy and benefit from.

Kazakhstan and Indonesia share many similarities. We are each the largest countries and economies in our respective regions, with multi-ethnic and multi-religious populations. Our relations have been growing steadily since they were established in 1993, and there is even more potential over the next few years in areas such as trade and investments.

Trade between both countries has been on a steady rise over the past few years. Bilateral trade reached US$370 million in 2019, a 2.5 time increase from the year before.

We provide Indonesia with alloys such as ferrochrome, while Indonesia exports food products such as palm oil and coffee to us, as well as vehicles, textile and electric equipment.

But there is scope to do more. Both countries are key links in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure project to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks.

Kazakhstan is now working to develop its land transport and logistics infrastructure. When completed, Kazakhstan will serve as a major gateway to connect Southeast Asia to the European Union, Russia, Caucasus and the Persian Gulf. The Port of Lianyungang, in China’s Jiangsu province, built by Kazakhstan and China, will also help build closer links between ASEAN countries and Central Asia.

The Memorandum of Cooperation signed in October 2019 between Indonesia and the Eurasian Economic Commission, of which Kazakhstan is part of, will bolster ties between Nur-Sultan and Jakarta too. For one thing, Indonesian goods will gain access to an integrated single market of 180 million consumers.

Another key area that will be of huge potential is the numerous investment opportunities Indonesian businesses will be keen on.

The Kazakh government is acutely aware that investments will only flow into the country if the environment is conducive. To this end, it has worked to improve the country’s investment and business environment. Among other things, it has streamlined business processes and regulations, created a competitive tax regime, strengthened the rule of law, and created a package of incentives for foreign investments.

The progress has paid dividends. In the Doing Business 2020 report, Kazakhstan ranked 25th out of 190 countries. Among the key metrics measured include protection of minority investors, where the country ranked 7th and enforcing contracts in which Kazakhstan was ranked 4th.

Indeed, the reforms have won praise from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which noted in its report on the country’s reforms that “over the past few years, Kazakhstan has made significant progress in improving its investment regime and business environment”. Similarly, in the US State Department’s 2018 Investment Climate Statement, Kazakhstan was named the “best investment climate in the region”.

Kazakhstan’s agriculture and food production industries are especially ripe for investment. As the ninth largest country in the world with about 210 million hectares of agricultural lands, agriculture is one of the pillars of Kazakhstan’s economy with a gross value added of 7 percent.

Within the food production sector, the halal food market in Kazakhstan, where seven in 10 of the people are Muslim, is expanding as well. This, I believe, is an area of keen interest for many Indonesian companies.

Islamic finance is another potential area for collaboration. The sector is the fastest-growing in global finance, owing to the rising demand for Muslims all around the world for such services.

Kazakhstan plans to develop the Islamic finance industry to create alternative sources of financing for state and municipal projects, as well as for private ones.

For this purpose, a special regulatory and legal regime has been set up in the Astana International Finance Centre (AIFC) that is consistent with international best practices and standards.

The AIFC is working closely with the Islamic Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank to create a legal and regulatory framework and a development roadmap to attract Islamic financing, as well as various non-banking financial services and capital from Central Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Indonesia is already a big participant in Islamic finance and on this front it would make sense to cooperate to jointly boost our prospects in this area. Kazakhstan is interested in attracting Indonesian financial institutions to participate in the activities of the AIFC, which is set to become the main financial hub of the region and one of the leading financial centers in Asia.

In many ways, Indonesia and Kazakhstan are similar to each other. We are both fast-developing economies with ambitions to achieve much more. We both believe in the value of friendship and the power of collaboration, so it would make sense to do more together.

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life as we know it and wreaked havoc on the global economy. But it is precisely in such uncertain times that we need to promote close ties and good cooperation with external partners. It is my hope that Kazakhstan and Indonesia can strengthen our relations, much like our shared love for food.

 ***

The writer is Kazakhstan ambassador to Indonesia.

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