Indonesian envoy keen to boost cooperation with SMEs
There is a need to establish cooperation among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of Pakistan and Indonesia, said Consul General of Indonesia Dr June Kuncoro Hadiningrat.
During a visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Thursday, he assured businessmen of further enhancing bilateral trade and economic relations by encouraging people-to-people contacts and facilitating the business community of Karachi.
The envoy said that an Indonesia-Pakistan portal had been created to facilitate bilateral trade and invited the business community of Karachi to get registered at the portal to find business opportunities in Indonesia.
In addition to the traditional items, lots of opportunities existed for enhancing exports through diversification of tradeable goods, he added.
Referring to statistics of the Indonesian Ministry of Trade, he pointed out that the trade volume between Indonesia and Pakistan had crossed $2.5 billion and there were a lot of areas which could be explored for further enhancing the existing trade volume.
Indonesia attached importance to Karachi city and the chamber as an effective platform for further promotion of bilateral trade and investment ties, the consul general remarked.
Also speaking on the occasion, KCCI President Shariq Vohra said that Karachi was the hub of trade and economic activities that offered profitable investment opportunities and facilities for trade, investment and joint ventures.
“Karachi, which contributes more than 70% of revenue to the national exchequer, is an attractive place for Indonesian businessmen, who can surely earn maximum profits by undertaking joint ventures.”
The KCCI president noted that bilateral trade between the two countries was in favour of Indonesia as during 2020, Pakistan exported goods worth $194.94 million to Indonesia whereas imports from Indonesia stood at $2.4 billion.
Highlighting the potential for enhancing trade between Indonesia and Pakistan, he said the two countries could enhance their bilateral trade by exchanging commodities like maize, wheat, wheat flour, non-manufactured tobacco and readymade garments while halal food industry also had great potential for enhancing bilateral trade.
“Indonesia along with Asean member countries is a huge market with great potential for Pakistani products and businessmen should focus on these countries to promote trade and exports,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2021.
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