Jakarta: Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan met Nigerian Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment Yalwaji Katagum here to discuss the opportunity to boost bilateral trade cooperation between Indonesia and Nigeria.
"The bilateral trade relationship between Indonesia and Nigeria can continue to be improved. I am optimistic that the total trade between the two countries will continue to rise to reach US$4 billion," he remarked.
"To this end, a concrete effort is necessary for the two countries in pushing improvement in trade and investment," he said in a statement, Wednesday.
The meeting began with the two discussing the development of the two countries' bilateral trade relations.
The two ministers deemed that bilateral trade between both nations is not yet optimal, and it still has major opportunities to be improved upon.
To realize balanced bilateral trade, Hasan stressed that the initial focus is developing an ecosystem, including relaxation of trade hurdles, both tariff and non-tariff, which in turn is reflected in the regulation change.
Moreover, he believes that Africa and Asia are the drivers of the world economy or trade centers in the future.
To this end, he encouraged the immediate realization of the Indonesia-Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
He expects Nigeria's support to expedite the PTA/FTA negotiation initiation between Indonesia and ECOWAS that has been done by the two parties in 2017.
"I believe that PTA between Indonesia and ECOWAS will provide major opportunities and benefits for the two parties, especially in trade and investment between Indonesia and Nigeria," Hasan remarked.
During the meeting, he also encouraged Katagum to exclude Indonesia's primary products from Nigeria's import ban to achieve a more balanced bilateral trade.
Earlier, the Nigerian government had implemented an import ban on 25 types of products, including Indonesia's primary products.
In addition, the two ministers discussed a cooperation plan to improve the capacity of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The cooperation plan is based on Nigeria's request to Indonesia to share its experience in formulating a program that supports MSMEs.
At the end of the meeting, the minister lauded Nigeria's suggestion regarding the formation of the Trade Committee between the two countries.
This committee is formed to discuss the development of the two countries' bilateral trade, specifically in trade and investment, by involving related stakeholders from Indonesia and Nigeria.
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