In recent years, the traditional friendship and strategic partnership between Vietnam and Indonesia have developed smoothly and positively. Vietnam is Indonesia's only strategic partner in ASEAN. The two sides regularly exchange delegations at all levels, especially at the high level, especially in 2023 when the two countries celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the strategic partnership.
Regarding bilateral trade cooperation, citing data from the General Department of Customs, the Vietnam Trade Office in Indonesia said that in recent years, two-way trade between Vietnam and Indonesia has grown positively. Despite Covid-19, bilateral trade turnover continues to grow positively, from 9 billion USD in 2019 to nearly 14 billion USD in 2023.
In the first two months of 2024, total two-way trade turnover reached 2.36 billion USD, up 18.1% over the same period in 2023. Of which, exports reached 1.05 billion USD, up 37.8% over 2023 and imports reached 1.26 billion USD, up 5.6%. Currently in ASEAN, Indonesia is Vietnam's second largest export market, after Thailand.
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| Taking advantage of incentives from FTAs, expanding cooperation space between Vietnam and Indonesia. Photo: VNA |
“The main reason for the growth in Vietnam's exports to Indonesia is that the Indonesian economy continued to show positive signs of growth in the first quarter of 2024; at the same time, import demand increased. In addition, Indonesia continued to have a high demand for rice imports in the first 3 months of the year,” the Vietnam Trade Office in Indonesia analyzed and added that out of 33 commodity groups with statistics, 24/33 commodity groups had growth in value. Notably, in the first 2 months of the year, the total export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery products reached 217.68 million USD, an increase of 2.37 times over the same period due to Indonesia's continued demand for importing rice for national reserves, and the prices of agricultural products such as rice and coffee remaining high.
In addition, coffee had the highest growth rate with an increase of 2.35 times, reaching a value of 71.36 million USD; rice increased by 110% to a value of 141.6 million USD; seafood increased by 82% with a value of 1.96 million USD, and vegetables and fruits increased by 65% with a value of 1.59 million USD.
With existing potential and strengths, Vietnam and Indonesia strive to soon increase bilateral trade turnover to 15 billion USD and higher at 18 billion USD before 2028 through reducing trade barriers and facilitating import and export of each other's key products, including rice trade.
However, Vietnam's strong export products such as agricultural products, textiles, food, beverages, household appliances, and consumer goods have not yet penetrated the market and have modest export turnover values. This shows that Vietnam and Indonesia still have a lot of potential to promote economic, trade, and investment cooperation.
In the coming time, the Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Indonesia believes that with a population of over 270 million people, the 4th largest in the world and the largest economy in Southeast Asia - Indonesia continues to be a potential market for Vietnamese goods if the Vietnamese business community takes full advantage of the benefits brought by ASEAN and RCEP FTAs as well as other potentials of the Indonesian market.
Previously, proposing solutions to promote trade, industrial and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Indonesia, during a working session between Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Indonesian Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita in January 2024, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien emphasized that the two sides need to continue promoting cooperation in the industrial sector, especially in areas where Indonesia has strengths and Vietnam has needs.
Based on the available potential and resources of each country, Vietnam and Indonesia can cooperate to develop an electric vehicle ecosystem and sustainably exploit minerals for green development such as electric vehicle battery production, as well as cooperate in selling carbon credits.
Minister Nguyen Hong Dien also shared that Vietnam is focusing on developing a sustainable industrial ecosystem and has policies to encourage and attract investment in projects in the fields of high technology, innovation, research and development, digital transformation, energy transformation, green industry, projects that facilitate Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the value chain; projects to promote digital economy, green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, sustainable development; strategic infrastructure development projects... These are also areas where Indonesian enterprises have strengths and can promote cooperation and share experiences with Vietnamese enterprises.
Sharing the same view, Indonesian Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said that the two countries still have a lot of potential and room for cooperation in the industrial sector, especially the electric car industry, logistics, and supporting industries. Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita believes that businesses of the two countries will promote cooperation in developing the electric vehicle ecosystem and battery production. In addition, the two sides can also continue to promote cooperation in other areas of mutual interest such as digital economy and human resource development.
Late on the afternoon of April 22, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that, at the invitation of Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi will pay an official visit to Vietnam and co-chair the 5th Meeting of the Vietnam - Indonesia Bilateral Cooperation Committee from April 24-25. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the official visit to Vietnam by the Indonesian Foreign Minister will contribute to strengthening the economic and trade diplomatic relations between the two countries; at the same time, opening up new cooperation opportunities in which both sides have potential and strengths. |
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