China to hold trade fair in Indonesia

After trade promotions here by the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and India, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China will hold its fourth Engineering and Technology Fair in Jakarta from Dec. 20 to Dec. 23.

"The fair will be participated in by about 70 major Chinese enterprises specializing in construction, machinery and high technology," deputy director of the overseas contracting and engineering directorate of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Sun Qianyuan, told reporters on Tuesday.

The fair, targeting Indonesian businessmen as well as those from other member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), will have sections on power generation, the petrochemicals industry, telecommunications, transportation infrastructure, and the high-tech industry, and involve more than 10 industrial fields.

The minister counselor for economic and commercial relations at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, Tan Weiwen, said there were many sectors in the engineering and technology fields where Sino-Indonesian cooperation could be developed.

He gave as examples oil and gas exploration, telecommunications, railway infrastructure, shipbuilding, mining and steel manufacturing.

"In shipbuilding, we are now the second largest manufacturer worldwide. Even Denmark, which formerly built its own vessels, now buys from us. With regard to steel, with over 200 million tons produced this year, this makes us the largest steel producer now," said Tan.

Taking place in Hall A1 of the Jakarta International Trade Fair Grounds -- or the Jakarta Fair Grounds (PRJ) as the arena is better known -- in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, the fair was expected to attract 10,000 visitors a day, with about 300 participants from China, he said.

Tan said it was estimated that the value of Sino-Indonesian trade would reach over US$10 billion by the end of this year, an increase of about 25 percent over last year.

"Since the two countries relations were restored, our value of our bilateral trade has consistently been in digits. Back in the 1990, the value of our mutual trade was still $1.1 billion," he said.

However, over the last 13 years China suffered a deficit of about $1 billion in its trade with Indonesia. -- JP