Indonesia Wants Belgium To Serve As Export Entrance Gate To Europe

JAKARTA, Sept 14 (Antara) - General chairman of the influential Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Rosan P Roeslani said he hoped that Belgium could serve as an entrance gate for Indonesian export commodities to Europe ahead of the conclusion of negotiation on Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) in 2018. "We see Belgium as a country strategically located and having one of the world's largest ports Antwerp," Rosan said after receiving the award of "The Order of Leopold" from the Belgian government here on Wednesday. With the conclusion of the IEU-CEPA negotiation and Belgium as trade entrance gate to Europe, Indonesia hopes that bilateral trade between the two countries could rise from the level, which has been unchanged from around US$1.6 billion a year, he said. "As the trade has always been in our favor, our commodities would be more competitive," he said. Based on official data at Kadin, Indonesia's main export commodities to Belgium include footwear, garments, furniture, voice recorders, synthetic fiber, tires, coffee, plywood, tobacco, paper lamps and synthetic paint. Indonesia imports products from Belgium, including chemicals, milk, angina compressors, recycled paper, blood/vaccine raw materials, chemical fertilizers, trucks, medicines , chocolate and wheat flour. In October, Vice President Jusuf Kalla plans to visit Brussels, Belgium, to officially open Europalia Indonesia Festival 2017 together with King Philippe. Europalia Festival is a biannual event organized by Belgium for arts and cultural show from selected guest countries. Indonesia is one of eight countries outside the European Union selected as a guest country since it was first held in 1949. On that occasion, the Indonesian Kadin and its Belgian counterpart would hold business meeting to strengthen economic ties between the two countries. In 2016, Belgian Princess Astrid visited Indonesia at the head of a delegation including 300 business leaders. Belgian companies in Indonesia operate mainly in renewable energy industry and tourism. New Belgian investment in Indonesia in 2016 was valued only at US$7.44 million , down 45.29 percent from the previous year. Cumulatively during the period of 2010-2015 , Belgian investment in the country was valued at US$132.9 million.