On the morning of April 8th, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Indonesian Trade Minister Lutfi held a virtual meeting. The Ministers exchanged views on deepening China-Indonesia trade and economic ties and reached broad common understanding.

Minister Wang noted China places high importance on trade and economic relations with Indonesia. Since 2020, under the strategic guidance of President Xi and President Joko, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries have bucked the trend and reported sound growth. This year marks the centenary of the Communist Party of China and the beginning of the 14th Five-year Plan. China is speeding up efforts to put in place a new development paradigm with the domestic circulation as the mainstay and with domestic and international circulation reinforcing each other, and deepening reform and opening-up from a higher level. This will provide broad market and development opportunities for Indonesia and other countries.

Minister Wang expressed China’s willingness to step up cooperation with Indonesia. The two sides should act on the leaders’ common understanding on the trade and economic from, align the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Maritime Fulcrum initiative, and work for high-level development of the commercial ties. The two sides should give full scope to the role of the Working Group on Promoting Smooth Trade in addressing each others’ concerns in trade and enhance trade facilitation. China supports able and creditworthy Chinese companies in expanding investment to Indonesia and importing competitive products from Indonesia. China also invites Indonesia to participate in the 4th CIIE.

Minister Lutfi noted that China-Indonesia trade and economic cooperation has delivered rich results thanks to the joint efforts from the two sides. The two-way trade has kept increasing despite trade imbalances. The Indonesia side appreciates China’s efforts to expand import of specialty goods, and will be delighted to participated in the 4th CIIE. He also expressed hope for China to accelerate the process for bird’s nest, tropical fruits and konjac chips to access the Chinese market, and facilitate the export of froze sea food to China. China’s robust investment in Indonesia has turned the country into an important producer and exporter of stainless steal, setting an example for the bilateral cooperation. The Indonesian side looks to revise the current trade and economic cooperation agreement with China, leverage the Working Group on Promoting Smooth Trade, and enhance trade and investment facilitation.

After the meeting, the Ministers witnessed the signing of the agreement to establish a Working Group on Promoting Smooth Trade.

(All information published on this website is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only.)