The first ever Vietnamese-Indonesian Trade, Investment and Tourism Forum was held in Hanoi on June 11, to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries in these sectors.

The forum, themed “Vietnam-Indonesia: a Partnership for Prosperity,” was jointly organised by the Indonesian Embassy in Vietnam and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), was also an excellent chance for the business communities of both countries to seek out cooperation opportunities.

During his opening speech, Indonesia ’s Ambassador Mayerfas stated that Vietnam is very important to Indonesia and the region, especially for trade and investment.

He also expressed his pleasure at the remarkable increase in cooperation in a number of areas between Indonesia and Vietnam over recent years, especially trade.

“We are very pleased to see the remarkable development of the relations and cooperation between Indonesia and Vietnam in multifaceted areas over the recent years, especially in terms of trade. Even though Indonesia-Vietnam economic relationship was set up and developed not long ago, the pace of development is remarkably high,” he said.

In 2011, two-way trade between the two countries reached 4.6 billion USD, the highest ever during 67 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and a ten fold increase within only 10 years.

However, trade cooperation between the two countries is still far from its full potential, especially when taking into account the huge domestic markets in both countries and the public’s increasingly growing purchasing power, said the ambassador.

Both countries, therefore, must work harder in the coming years to double bilateral trade to 10 billion USD by 2015, instead of the 5 billion USD as previously agreed to by both governments during Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Indonesia last September, he added.

At the forum, Chairman of VCCI Vu Tien Loc also said that Vietnam and Indonesia are important partners for each other in Southeast Asia .

The forum will promote trade, investment and tourism cooperation between the two countries and meet the desires of both business communities as well as leaders and officials in both countries, said Loc.

Indonesia currently ranks 29 th out of the 91 countries and territories that invest in Vietnam , with 31 projects and a capital investment of almost 233.3 million USD.-VNA