Guang Xi seeks stronger ties with Indonesia
Guang Xi seeks stronger ties with Indonesia
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Guang Xi, an autonomous region in China, hopes to improve
trade ties with Indonesia by sending a delegation to Jakarta next
week.
The delegation will consist of 500 business representatives
including the governor of Guang Xi, which is located on the
south-western tip of China on the Gulf of Tonkin.
The backbone of the region's economy is tourism, mining and
agriculture, which accounts for 30 percent of gross domestic
products (GDP).
According to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(Kadin), Indonesia's trade balance with Guang Xi stood at US$70
million last year, double the previous year.
"By strengthening cooperation with the area, we hope to
increase that figure by 50 percent," Kadin's Eddy W. Shakti said
on Thursday.
Last year, Guang Xi exported lead and glass to Indonesia, and
imported goods from Indonesia through the neighboring Ghuang Zhou
province and Hong Kong.
"With this cooperation, the province will directly import from
Indonesia," Eddy said, adding that the provincial government of
Guang Xi could import up to three million tons of coal per annum
from Indonesia to help meet its yearly needs of 10 million tons.
Guang Xi's business community will put their products on
display during the China Guang Xi Commodity Exhibition, from
April 7 to April 10 at the Jakarta International Expo in
Kemayoran, North Jakarta.
The delegation members are expected to sign memorandums of
understanding on future investments in Indonesia during the
opening ceremony for the visit at the Shangri-la Hotel in
Jakarta.
"Most of the business deals offered will be in the field of
transportation infrastructure, the chemical industry, farming
machinery and fisheries," Guang Xi's director of foreign trade at
the department of commerce, Yuanlong Ding, said.
Responding to concerns that the trade fair will not help
balance the already large trade imbalance between China and
Indonesia, Eddy said Indonesian businesses should not just import
Chinese products, but should learn from Chinese technology. (003)