Cambodia may help boost textile exports
Cambodia may help boost textile exports
Adianto Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Minister of Trade and Industry Rini M. Soewandi said on Thursday
she planned to visit Cambodia in May to seek ways of helping
improve Indonesia's textile exports.
Rini said that Indonesia's textile sector could benefit from
Cambodia's free access facility into the European textile market.
"I will negotiate with the Cambodian government so they (the
Cambodian textile industry) will buy more fabrics from
Indonesia," Rini told reporters after opening the International
Textile and Apparel Asia Global Sourcing Exhibition and
Conference in Jakarta on Thursday.
According to Rini, Cambodian textile producers are allowed to
import raw materials for textiles from ASEAN (Association of
South East Asian Nations) countries and then export them to the
European market.
Textile products are one of the country's major non-oil and
gas exports and employ a total of 1.2 million people.
The Indonesian Textile Association (API) said that the
country's export revenue from textiles this year would increase
to US$8 billion, up from $7.6 billion last year.
API executive director Indra Ibrahim said that such a
projected rise could only be achieved through aggressive
marketing efforts by local producers with the help of the
government
Indra, who is also the chairman of the exhibition, said that
local textile producers had been hit by various uncertainties
last year, including the world economic slowdown.
Elsewhere, Rini said that amid tougher competition and the
trade liberalization era, particularly with stronger competition
from China, the government was now focusing on boosting the
competitiveness of textile producers.
She, however, urged textile producers to explore multilateral
cooperation by forming strategic alliances in order to lessen
their dependency on Europe and the United States.
The U.S. is Indonesia's largest export destination for textile
products.
Some 130 foreign and domestic textile producers are taking
part in the exhibition, which is scheduled to last for more than
2 days.
The foreign exhibitors come from India, Cambodia, Malaysia,
China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Italy.
Rini has started to institute collaboration with neighboring
countries to help boost Indonesia's export performance.
The government previously reached an agreement in principle
with Singapore to take advantage of the proposed Free Trade
Arrangement between Singapore and the U.S.
The plan would allow IT products made in Indonesia's Bintan
Island to enter the U.S. market via Singapore.