Bulgaria, Indonesia seek closer trade relationship
Bulgaria, Indonesia seek closer trade relationship
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian and Bulgarian business lobby groups signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Saturday to preserve and
stimulate investments and exports between the two countries.
Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(Kadin) Aburizal Bakrie said that the deal would act as a bridge
to link businesspeople of the two countries.
The signing ceremony was attended by visiting Bulgarian
President Georgi Parvanov, State Minister for Information and
Communications Syamsul Muarif and businesspeople from the two
countries.
Aburizal said that the pact covered several strategic points
such as the initiative to establish a representative bank in each
of the two countries to deal with export transactions and
documents.
He explained that under the deal, both countries agreed to set
up a tourism committee aimed to boost the promotions of tourist
destinations in the two countries.
They also arranged the main commodities to be traded.
Vice Chairman of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Trade
Georgi Chernev said Bulgaria was offering to Indonesia its
products specially for defense and security purposes.
He said that Bulgaria could provide Indonesia with a
competitive and state-of-the-art defense system.
Bulgaria is known as one of the world's reliable and
inexpensive producers of a range of weapons, ammunition and
related military equipment. The country is known for
manufacturing handguns, assault rifles, mortars, antitank mines
and explosives.
The country also produces relatively sophisticated optical,
radar and communication equipments, as well as surface-to-air
missiles and armored personnel carriers.
The country produces military equipment under Russian license,
and in the 1990s the country began moving toward producing
standard equipment for the North Atlantic Territorial
Organization (NATO).
Chernev also said that Bulgaria would cooperate with Indonesia
in developing the power sector by providing infrastructure and
engineers.
"I think the arms and power sectors are very important for
Indonesia," said Chernev, adding that currently there were 42,000
companies included in the Bulgarian chamber of commerce.
He explained that Bulgarian businesspeople wanted to establish
strategic alliances with Indonesian businesses because of the
important role of Indonesia in the South East Asia region, as the
largest country.
Based on trade data from the Bulgarian Economic Policy
Secretariat, Bulgaria has had a trade deficit with Indonesia.
Imports from Indonesia in the first quarter of this year
increased to US$15.9 million from $10.2 million in the same
period last year. Bulgaria's exports to Indonesia in the first
quarter also soared to $800,000 from $400,000 a year earlier.
In 2002, imports from Indonesia declined to $77.1 million from
$106.7 million in 2001, while Bulgaria's exports surged to $3
million from $1.6 million.
Bulgaria mostly imported coal and copper from Indonesia and
exported mostly defense and electrical equipment.
Other commodities imported by Bulgaria are spices, coffee,
metal products, pharmaceutical goods and machinery.