Exploit potential, match strengths, aim for the future

On the occasion of Indonesian President Joko Widodo's State visit to Vietnam (January 11-13), Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Ta Van Thong shared about the significance of the visit and the potential for bilateral cooperation.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the occasion of attending the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia in May 2023. (Photo: Anh Son)

Deepening Strategic Partnership

Ambassador Ta Van Thong said that this visit by Indonesian President Joko Widodo is the second State visit to Vietnam (after the visit in September 2018) and is an opportunity for the two sides to continue discussing measures to promote cooperation, deepen the strategic partnership, thereby tightening the traditional friendship that has been nurtured over nearly 70 years.

Vietnam-Indonesia bilateral relations have continued to develop strongly in recent times, demonstrated through high-level visits and contacts such as the phone call between General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Joko Widodo (August 2022), President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's State visit to Indonesia (December 2022), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's three attendances at ASEAN Summits in Indonesia (April 2021, May 2023 and September 2023), National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue's official visit to Indonesia and attendance at AIPA-44 (August 2023)...

Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Ta Van Thong. (Source: VNA)

According to Ambassador Ta Van Thong, on the occasion of this visit, the two sides can discuss many areas of mutual interest such as promoting trade and investment, cooperation in energy transition, developing green and sustainable economy, digital economy, cooperation in electric vehicle production, high-tech agriculture, etc.

"In addition, the international situation has recently undergone many major changes in terms of geopolitics, security and international economy. The two sides will have many points to discuss, promote cooperation and coordinate positions at regional and international forums," said Ambassador Ta Van Thong.

Accordingly, the traditional friendship and trust have always been a solid foundation for the Vietnam-Indonesia Strategic Partnership framework to move towards the future, increasingly deepening, becoming more substantial and effective in all areas of cooperation.

The two countries still have much potential to continue to exploit, many strengths that can complement each other. On the other hand, the two countries are also active members of ASEAN, with a certain role and position in the region and to some extent in the international arena. Therefore, the close and deep cooperation between Vietnam and Indonesia not only serves the practical interests of the people of the two countries but also contributes to peace, stability and prosperity in the region as well as the world.

"I believe that promoting existing areas of cooperation will create ripe conditions for the two countries to elevate bilateral relations, commensurate with the potential and strengths of each country as well as the excellent development of bilateral relations in recent times. That is completely natural and will certainly be a new, strong impetus for the two countries to build an effective and long-term cooperation framework," Ambassador Ta Van Thong emphasized.

The $15 billion target is very realistic.

Ambassador Ta Van Thong particularly emphasized that the economic and trade relations between the two countries have achieved impressive growth, continuously surpassing new milestones and moving towards a more balanced direction. Indonesia will become Vietnam's third largest export market and second largest import market in ASEAN in 2023. Bilateral trade turnover will increase from 8.20 billion USD in 2020 to 14.17 billion USD in 2022.

In addition, according to Ambassador Ta Van Thong, the investment sector has seen many improvements. By the end of November this year, Indonesia's total investment capital in Vietnam reached 651.21 million USD, with 120 valid projects (an increase of 2 projects with an additional capital of 4.71 million USD in 2023) and ranked 29th out of 143 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

Many Indonesian corporations and companies are successfully investing and doing business in Vietnam such as: Ciputra, Traveloka, Gojek, PT Vietmindo Energitama, Jafpa Comfeed Vietnam, Semen Indonesia Group... On the other hand, some large Vietnamese corporations and enterprises are present in Indonesia such as FPT, Dien may xanh... and other enterprises are also completing investment procedures in Indonesia such as Taxi Xanh (Vingroup), Viet Thai Group, Thai Binh Shoes, Thuan Hai Joint Stock Company... Most notable is the project of Vinfast Global with a total expected investment capital of 1.2 billion USD to build an electric vehicle factory in Indonesia with a scale of 50,000 vehicles per year, expected to break ground in the first quarter of 2024 and be completed in 2026.

During high-level exchanges, the leaders of the two countries agreed to bring two-way trade to the target of 15 billion USD by 2028. This target is set based on the determination of the two governments and the potential of both sides. The population of the two countries accounts for 60% of the ASEAN population with a total of nearly 400 million people. The two countries are both members of the AFTA Free Trade Area and RCEP, so they have many advantages to increase two-way trade. In the context of the global trade economy continuing to face many difficulties, trade between the two countries continues to be a bright spot with growth of nearly 10% per year. "Therefore, the possibility of reaching the target of 15 billion USD is a very realistic prospect in the next few years," the Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia emphasized.

To achieve this goal, the two sides are coordinating to soon hold the 8th Joint Economic and Trade Committee meeting to propose measures to promote economic and trade cooperation. In addition to traditional areas of cooperation such as agriculture, fisheries, etc., the two sides will have cooperation documents in areas such as digital economy, green economy, energy transition, climate change response, etc.

The Halal industry is also a potential area of cooperation between the two countries. According to Ambassador Ta Van Thong, the Vietnamese Government has recently launched a strategy to develop the Halal industry. The potential of the Halal market is huge, up to thousands of billions of USD, so it is a great opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises. The two countries are working to create more favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to obtain Halal certification, and penetrate more strongly into the Halal export market to Indonesia.

In the context of the challenging and unpredictable global economy in 2023, the fact that both Vietnam and Indonesia maintain impressive growth rates and strongly develop bilateral economic relations is important not only for each country but also contributes to enhancing the economic resilience of ASEAN in general to stand firm against fluctuations and unfavorable external impacts.

Create a complete value chain

Currently, one of the prominent trends in the world is to strengthen cooperation to respond to climate change. Both Vietnam and Indonesia have made strong commitments to reduce carbon emissions, demonstrating their responsibility in contributing to the global effort to reduce and respond to climate change.

According to Ambassador Ta Van Thong, in this field, in the process of implementing international commitments, the two countries can cooperate closely in the fields of energy conversion, carbon storage, renewable energy development, green energy, sustainable green economic development...

In addition, under the impact of climate change, food security is now becoming a concern for many countries, especially those with large populations such as Indonesia and Vietnam. Ambassador Ta Van Thong said that both countries have long-standing traditions and strengths in production and resources for agriculture and fisheries, which can complement each other, creating a complete value chain.

"The two sides need to make efforts to promote existing mechanisms in ASEAN, while also studying the signing of a new agricultural cooperation agreement, thereby proposing specific cooperation projects to develop farmers' livelihoods, ensure food security and promote trade and economic development of each country," the Ambassador emphasized.

In terms of rice, Vietnam is always in the top 3 countries supplying rice to the Indonesian market. As of November 2023, Vietnam has exported more than 1.1 million tons of rice to Indonesia, worth more than 600 million USD. In terms of aquatic products and fisheries, the two sides continue to promote recent exchanges on product groups such as lobster, tuna, seaweed, promoting cooperation between businesses, associations and fishermen of the two countries to develop sustainable fisheries.

In addition, Ambassador Ta Van Thong said that tourism is also a potential field to promote cooperation between the two countries based on the natural landscape and the tourism economy that is recovering and developing strongly. In addition to restoring direct flights after a period of interruption, in 2023 Vietjet opened new routes from Ho Chi Minh City to Jakarta and Hanoi to Jakarta. This is a favorable condition for the two sides to cooperate in developing specific tourism products in the coming time, connecting destinations, and at the same time improving and creating new tourism products in a green and sustainable direction.

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