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.