Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan has called for the holding of the 4th Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting between Indonesia and South Africa, which has been delayed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The fourth JTC meeting was supposed to be held in Indonesia in 2020, however, it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, we push the technical teams of both countries to immediately coordinate and continue the implementation of the JTC meeting,” he said in a statement released here on Saturday.
He made the statement during a bilateral meeting with South African Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel on the sidelines of the G20 Trade, Investment, and Industry Ministerial Meeting (TIIMM), which was held in Nusa Dua, Badung district, Bali province, from September 21–23, 2022.
The TIIMM was organized under the Sherpa Track as a follow-up to the G20 TIIWG, which sought to address trade and investment issues as well as encourage G20 countries to bolster global trade and investments.
The JTC is a bilateral forum for discussing efforts to increase cooperation in the economic and trade sectors between Indonesia and South Africa. Three JTC meetings have been held between the two countries so far, and the last one took place on July 21, 2017, in Pretoria, South Africa.
Indonesian investors are interested in developing their businesses in South Africa, Hasan noted.
“Hence, I ask for the support of the South African government to facilitate Indonesian companies in making investments (in South Africa),” he said.
In response, Patel said that he supports the plans of Indonesian business players to invest in his country.
On the same occasion, he also proposed the establishment of cooperation in certification for halal products so that South Africa can export meat products to Indonesia.
In addition, he said that his party wants to establish technical cooperation in the industrial sector, such as by conducting expertise and experience sharing in the steel, energy, and mineral industries.
South Africa is an important trade partner for Indonesia in the African continent. In the period from January to July 2022, the total trade between the two countries reached US$2.06 billion, an increase of 46.92 percent year on year.
Indonesia’s main exports to South Africa include palm oil, motorized vehicles and accessories, copra, as well as rubber. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s main imports from South Africa include ferro-alloys, chromium ore, wood pulp, iron ore, and manganese ore.
Source : Antara
