Yogyakarta (ANTARA News) - China has pledged to encourage its private companies to increase imports from Indonesia to create growth in trade between the two countries.
"To maintain trade growth we will keep pushing businessmen to increase imports from Indonesia particularly crude palmoil, rubber, minerals for electronic devices and tropical fruits," Chinese Trade Minister Dheng Deming said at a press conference after the opening of the 10th Indonesia-China Joint Commission Meeting here on Saturday.
He said the Chinese government would also push for increased investment in Indonesia by Chinese companies through a joint investment promotion cooperation.
The meeting on Saturday agreed to set a high and sustained bilateral trade target and maintain the bilateral trade balance.
In case imbalances occured in the two countries` bilateral trade the party enjoying a surplus should take actions including boosting imports and giving the needed support. Indonesia`s trade minister Mari Elka Pangestu meanwhile said Indonesia`s exports to China in the first two months this year grew 138 percent.
"Our exports to China rose from US$840 million in January-February last year to around US$2 billion so it was up by around 138 percent," she said.
Indonesia`s imports from China in the period meanwhile rose by around 50 percent. "So the hike in our exports is still higher to reduce the trade deficit," she said.
Mari said she was optimistic the country`s exports to China would grow more than 9 to 10 percent compared with last year moreover following the implementation of the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement this year.(*)
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