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China and Indonesia to boost trade as Widodo’s Sinovac shot underlines ‘brotherly relations’
- Foreign ministers Retno Marsudi and Wang Yi signal intent to expand imports and investments in effort to boost and balance trading relationship
- Two-way trade has boomed even amid Covid-19, but there are thorny issues too – such as the poor treatment of Indonesian fishermen on Chinese vessels
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Indonesia’s foreign minister on Wednesday urged China to remove trade barriers for some of the country’s main exports so that trade between the countries could grow and become more balanced, a concern his Chinese counterpart responded to positively.
Retno Marsudi delivered the request while meeting China’s state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi, who wrapped up his two-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation on Wednesday.
“I underlined the importance of removing trade barriers [and providing] market access for Indonesia’s main exports to China, such as fishery products, tropical fruits, swift’s nest, and of course, palm oil,” Retno said during a news conference with Wang, adding that two-way trade last year had increased 10 per cent despite the coronavirus pandemic.
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Wang said Beijing looked forward “to expanding imports from Indonesia and Chinese investments in Indonesia so that we can bring about a more healthy and balanced growth in trade between our two countries”.
Wang said Beijing would work with Southeast Asia’s biggest economy “for the speedy entry into effect of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to unleash the benefits of the largest free-trade area of the world”. The partnership is a free-trade agreement between 15 Asia-Pacific nations who together account for about 30 per cent of the world’s population and a similar level of global GDP.
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