Vietnam is a reputable and high-quality supplier of many products to the Indonesian market such as rice, coffee, rubber, seafood, and textiles. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The attendance of PrimeMinister Pham Minh Chinh and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam at the 43rd ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings inJakarta, Indonesia, from September 4-7 isexpected to open up cooperation opportunities, thus helping the two countries to raise the bilateral tradeturnover to 15 billion USD in a more balanced direction.
Since Vietnam and Indonesia established their diplomatic ties in 1955, the bilateral relations have been developing stronglyin all fields.
According to the Department ofAsia-Africa Markets under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, economic andtrade ties between Vietnam and Indonesia have recorded strong developmentin the past time as both economies have alot of potential and are emerging and developing rapidly.
Indonesia is the 16th biggest economy in the world, the biggest economy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and also the largest market in ASEAN with more than 270 millionconsumers with its middle class growing in size.
Furthermore, Indonesia is also a market with a lot of room forVietnamese products. Meanwhile, Vietnam is a market with great potential forIndonesia to promote cooperation in both trade and investment.
The trade turnover between the two countries recorded positivegrowth in the past tine. In 2013, the bilateral trade reached only 4.8billion USD. In 2022, it was nearly triple, reaching 14.1 billionUSD.
In the first four months of 2023, the two-way trade hit more than 4.2 billion USD with Vietnam’s exportsto Indonesia reaching 1.6 billion USD, 9% higher than the same period in 2022.It is expected that in 2023, the bilateral trade turnover can reach or exceed 15 billion USD.
In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is currently Vietnam's 3rd largesttrading partner, while Vietnam is Indonesia's 4th largest trading partner.
Notably, Vietnam is a reputable and high-quality supplier of manyproducts to the Indonesian market such as rice, coffee, rubber, seafood,textiles, footwear, mobile phones and components, iron and steel, constructionmaterials, and plastic products.
On the other hand, many of Indonesia's key products such ascoal, auto parts, palm oil, plastic raw materials, animal feed and rawmaterials, chemicals, and metals are preferred by Vietnamese businesses.
In addition to bilateral cooperation, the two countries have also closelycoordinated and supported each other in multilateral economic cooperationframeworks such as ASEAN, theWorld Trade Organisation (WTO), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP).
Pham The Cuong, Vietnamese Trade Counsellor in Indonesia, said that in the first four months of 2023, Vietnam’s rice exports to the Indonesia brought home 149 million USD, a sharp increase of 2,514% compared to the same period in 2022. Besides importing rice, Indonesia is also a very potentialmarket for Vietnamese food.
With a population of 275 million people,Indonesia spends about 16 billion USD importing food, foodstuffs and beverages, accounting for 6.5% ofthe country's total imports.
According to Cuong, Vietnam can expand theexports of instant noodle, vermicelli, frozen dumplings, canned fruits (lycheeand longan), milk, dairy products, honey, instant coffee, and passion fruit juice.
Cuong said that as the majority of Indonesia’s population are Islams, Indonesia is a market with the largest demand for Halal certified products in the world.Therefore, export businesses should proactively learn and apply for Halalcertification from Indonesia.
Meanwhile, to promote deep processing and increase productvalues, Indonesia plans to ban the export of 21 groups of goods in the form ofunprocessed raw materials from now until 2040. Particularly, the export of raw bauxite has been bannedfrom June 2023, followed by copper and tin products.
In the list of the 21 commodity groups, there are some products whose export bans willaffect Vietnam such as coal, shrimp, aquatic products, crabs, seaweed, and sawntimber.
On the sidelines of the 55th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting (AEM 55), IndonesianMinister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan said that Indonesia always considers Vietnam asone of Indonesia's important economic and trade partners in Southeast Asia.
Hasan suggested Vietnam consider and soon resumethe exchange of delegations, especially the cooperation mechanism and annualforum between the Indonesian Ministry of Trade and the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry andTrade.
Indonesia hopes to learn Vietnam’s experience inaquaculture production and exports, he said.
Indonesia also called for Vietnamese businesses to invest and cooperate withIndonesian businesses to develop the electric vehicle industry.
Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien agreed with Hasan's proposals on the early resumption of the cooperation mechanism, informationexchange and annual forum between the two ministries, which was interrupted inthe last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dien proposed that Hasan encourage Indonesian seafood businesses to participatein fairs, trade promotion activities, and business forums held in Vietnam toconnect the business communities of the two countries./.
