Trade surplus with China US$5.86b

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia posted a cumulative trade surplus of US$5.86 billion with China since 1985, when direct bilateral trade ties were restored, up to the end of last June, a Chinese diplomat said here yesterday.

Tan Weiwen, the first secretary in charge of economic and commercial affairs at the Chinese Embassy, said that the total value of bilateral trade reached $2.64 billion last year with Indonesia registering a surplus of $537 million.

"The two-way trade totaled $1.53 billion in the first half of this year and is estimated to reach $4 billion for the whole year," he told reporters.

Tan said that Indonesia is now China's third biggest trading partner among the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after Singapore and Malaysia.

Besides Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, ASEAN also groups Brunei, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Indonesian exports to China consist mainly of plywood, copper, paper, aluminum and fertilizer. Imports from China comprise mainly of cotton fiber, textiles and machinery.

Tan held the news conference yesterday to promote the Economic and Trade Exhibition and Forum to be held in Beijing in the middle of October to coincide with the 26th general assembly of the World Trade Center Association.

He invited more Indonesian companies to make use of the exhibition to promote their products.

Erwin Ramedhan, managing director of the World Trade Center here, said that 16 Indonesian companies have so far registered to take part in the exhibition.(04)