China, Indonesia urged to strengthen economic co-op

China and Indonesia should strengthen economic and trade cooperation to respond to the global economic uncertainty, officials said at the China-Indonesia business forum opened here Monday.

The one-day forum, providing opportunities for cooperation and partnership among business people, was organized by China's Promotion of International Trade Council and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Indonesia and attended by around 200 Chinese and Indonesian entrepreneurs and high-level company representatives.

Hua Jianmin, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, the country's top legislative body, said China and Indonesia have been facing severe challenges in the past four years due to the international economic crisis.

"China and Indonesia should strengthen trade and investment cooperation and promote further development of bilateral economic ties in a bid to combat the economic crisis and contribute to the global economic recovery," Hua said at the opening ceremony.

Hua pointed out that China and Indonesia are populous countries with big markets and the two countries have strong economic complementarity. "There are a lot of economic potential to be explored," he added.

Data from the Chinese embassy in Indonesia shows in the first nine months of this year the bilateral trade value reached 47.65 billion U.S. dollars, up 10 percent despite the weak global economic outlook, and the FDI from China to Indonesia increased more than 200 percent to 450 million U.S. dollars compared with the same period of last year.

Tifatul Sembiring, Minister for Communications and Information Technology of Indonesia, said the forum is a good platform for Chins and Indonesia to enhance economic cooperation in response to the global economic downturn.

"Both China and Indonesia are big economies in the region and the two countries are jointly initiating to serve as a driving force for the global development," Sembiring said.

Mari Elka Pangestu, Indonesia's Tourism and Creative Economy Minister, is optimistic for the future cooperation between China and Indonesia.

Mari said on the sidelines of the forum that the economic cooperation between the two countries will boost the inbound and outbound tourist numbers. "Indonesia is targeting 1 million Chinese holidaymakers by 2014," she added.

China and Indonesia has established the strategic partnership in 2005, and the bilateral relations between the two countries have entered an era of development featuring more trade, investment, tourism and economic cooperation.