Sino-Indonesian economic relations

Indonesian Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Soewandi recently completed an official visit to China. The visit did not have any urgent agenda, but was related to Indonesia's solo exhibition in Beijing, thus it was significant to the country.

One important point to be noted is the demand of Ministry of Industry and Trade for the Chinese government to provide Indonesian businesspeople who want to buy Chinese products export credit facilities.

Rini also made known Indonesia's plan to construct streets, bridges and power generators -- business opportunities that Chinese investors could avail themselves of.

On the other hand, Chinese Trade Minister Bo Xilai promoted his country's products, such as textile machinery and crop processing machines, which Indonesia needs.

The value of trade between Indonesia and China increased 30.02 percent to US$2.7 billion this year from $2.08 billion last year.

Indonesia's exports to China amounted to $3 billion, meaning that the Chinese market absorbed just 3.7 percent of Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports, much lower than the United States (16 percent), Japan (14 percent) and Singapore (11 percent).

Indonesia is still less aggressive than other ASEAN member countries in taking advantage of the Chinese market.

The government's decision to send Rini to China was the right move and is part of a sound economic policy.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta