Indonesia targets trade worth $20 bln with S Korea

Jakarta, February 23 (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto on Tuesday said the government is targeting trade worth US$20 billion with South Korea. Trade between the two countries jumped nearly 40 percent to touch US$18.4 billion in 2021 compared to a year earlier, he noted at the Korea-Indonesia Business Forum, which was held in a hybrid format on Tuesday. "Hopefully, (bilateral trade) can return to the targeted level of US$20 billion," the minister said. South Korea is the seventh-largest importer of Indonesian goods and the sixth-largest exporter of goods to Indonesia, he noted. This indicates that the trade between the two countries is still strong, he said. Meanwhile, South Korea's investment in Indonesia reached US$1.64 billion in 2021, Hartarto added. He said structural reform carried out through the Job Creation Law was one of the factors for the increase in South Korea's investment in Indonesia. "During a meeting with the South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy, Mr. Moon Sung Wonk, (he) lauded the structural reform conducted through the Omnibus Law (Job Creation Law), which has pushed an increase in South Korean investment in Indonesia with several projects in the pipeline," he elaborated. In the past three years, Indonesia-South Korea trade has remained below the US$18.6 billion recorded in 2018, deputy chief for maritime, investment, and foreign affairs at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Shinta W. Kamdani, said. Therefore, the two countries still have the potential to boost bilateral trade, she added. "We realize that the two countries still have a great chance to increase and develop cooperation in view of their large economic potential," she said.