Indonesia, China Renew Economic and Trade Expansion Pact

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Indonesia and China signed an agreement on Further Expanding and Deepening Bilateral Economic and Trade Cooperation (BETC) on the sidelines of the recent G20 Summit in Bali.

"The BETC signing between China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and I marked a new chapter to increase cooperation between Indonesia and China," Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said in a statement here on Thursday, Nov. 17.

Present to witness the signing ceremony was Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and China’s President Xi Jinping.

Zulkifli went on to say that the renewal of the BETC Agreement this year demonstrated the commitment between the two countries to optimize market potential while expanding the areas of bilateral economic, trade, and investment cooperation.

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“Apart from that, BETC also serves as an umbrella for the formation of the Joint Commission on Economic and Trade Cooperation,” he added.

BETC is a legal umbrella for economic and trade ties between Indonesia and China. Both countries agreed to renew the BETC Agreement after the previous agreement expired in April 2021.

Zulkifli believes that the BETC will be beneficial to improve the trade and economic performance of the two countries. He also said that discussions within the BETC framework can be one of the avenues to address various trade issues, including facilitating the smooth running of bilateral trade.

China is Indonesia's top trading partner, both in terms of exports and imports. During the January-September 2022 period, the value of Indonesia's exports to China reached $46.88 billion.

This value increased by 28.87 percent from the same period in the previous year. Meanwhile, the value of Indonesia's imports from China reached $50.67 billion, an increase of 28.33 percent.

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Total trade between Indonesia and China in 2021 reached $109.99 billion, an increase of 54 percent as compared to 2020.

Indonesia's exports to China during that period amounted to $53.76 billion, while Indonesia's imports from China were worth $56.22 billion.

With the signing of the BETC agreement, Zulkifli is optimistic that the value of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, which had been going well, will continue to increase.

"I believe the signing of this agreement can strengthen the cooperation between the two countries and be able to have a positive impact on the economies of Indonesia and China," he said.

Source: State News Antara