Thailand holds expo to tap RI market
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In a bid to expand its Indonesian market, Thailand will intensify the promotion of its export products here.
"Indonesia is a huge market. We encourage Thai producers and traders to look at the Indonesian market. Most of them don't know about the market potential here. They are reluctant to come here due to the language barrier," Thailand's Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs Somsri Ngaothepittak of the Thai Embassy told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Ngaothepittak said that there was the potential for Thailand to increase its trade here because the country had world-class quality products while Indonesia had the biggest market in Southeast Asia.
She mentioned one of the problems that Thai producers needed to overcome was to find products that were not produced in Indonesia.
"If Thai businesses could offer products that were not made in Indonesia, the trade could grow rapidly without competing with the local producers," she said, adding that Thai government would also like to see total trade increase between the two countries.
Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency recorded total trade between Thailand and Indonesia last year at US$4.7 billion.
Indonesia's total imports from Thailand were $2.7 billion, dominated by computer parts, automotive parts, integrated circuits, plastic seed and natural rubber.
Ngaothepittak said this ranked Indonesia 17th as Thailand's trade partner.
"In ASEAN, Indonesia ranks third after Singapore and Malaysia. You're the biggest country in the region, you should have become our number one partner," said the minister counselor, who is also the director of the Thai Trade Center in Jakarta.
Ngaothepittak said Malaysia's total trade volume was almost double that of Indonesia, despite the fact that Malaysia's population was only about 10 percent of Indonesia's.
To increase the trade volume, Thailand will hold a trade exhibition from July 7 to July 10 at Hall B, Semanggi Expo in Sudirman Central Business District, South Jakarta.
The exhibition will showcase 79 Thailand companies, mainly small and medium enterprises, offering 14 categories of commercial products, such as agricultural machinery, auto parts and accessories, electrical appliances and toys.
About 300 Indonesian trade companies are expected to attend the exhibition, which will be officiated by a senior official from the Ministry of Trade and Thai Ambassador to Indonesia Atchara Seriputra.
The four-day exhibition will also promote the concept "One Tambon One Product" (OTOP), meaning One Village One Product, a project launched by the Thai government in 2001.
"The idea of the project is one village in Thailand specializes in a product based on the local industry, tradition and natural resources," said Suda Khaematan, the counselor for commercial affairs at the Thai Embassy.
"However, the quality of OTOP products has reached a world- class export standard. They have been exported to the U.S., Europe and Japan," she said. (006)