The East Java Provincial Government remains the mainstay of contributors to national non-oil and gas exports, BumiMajapahit's contribution to Indonesia's international trade reaches 13 percent of the total national non-oil and gas exports. Export destination countries from East Java to the European Union, Canada, the United States and Russia, accounted for 23 percent of total exports from East Java. Director of ASEAN Negotiations, Directorate General of International Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Dina Kurnia Sari, said that East Java Province is still encouraged to play a strategic role in the export of non-oil and gas commodities, which has been the second largest contributor to foreign exchange from national exports after West Java. "East Java Province is one of the main contributors to Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports with a share of almost 13 percent or USD 19.9 billion of Indonesia's total non-oil and gas exports, specifically exports from East Java to the EU, Canada, USA, and Russia reaching nearly 23 percent of total exports from East Java Province," explained Dina, Tuesday (12/10).
He added that therefore his party chose Surabaya as the location for the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the theme New Issues in ASEAN Cooperation with Strategic Partners (EU, Canada, USA and Russia) some time ago, inviting business actors, companies, exporters, associations, stakeholders, academics and also SMEs in East Java. In this FGD, speakers were also presented as the Assistant Deputy for Regional and Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, East Java Chamber of Commerce, Faculty of Economics and Business Unair Surabaya and Export Center Surabaya and the East Java Provincial Industry and Trade Office. The purpose of this FGD is that stakeholders and the public can find out information about new issues proposed by the ASEAN Strategic Partners, and can map export opportunities which will later encourage the utilization of the results of the cooperation. ASEAN is the 3rd largest economy in Asia and the 6th in the world.
In 2020, Indonesia's export value to ASEAN was recorded at USD 29.4 billion and imports amounted to USD 21.2 billion. This means that Indonesia has a trade surplus with ASEAN countries of USD 8.2 billion. In addition to adding trade facilities, Indonesia and other ASEAN member countries are also actively cooperating and negotiating with countries in the Americas, Europe and Africa. Currently, several countries such as the US, Canada, the European Union, Russia, Switzerland and the UK are ASEAN dialogue partners who are quite active in every ASEAN meeting, even though we do not yet have an FTA with our strategic partner. Based on the ASEAN Statistical Yearbook 2020, the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) are the top five export destinations for ASEAN goods in 2019, with export share for the USA reaching 12.9% (USD 184 billion) and for the EU reaching 10 .8% (USD 154 billion). Although there are differences in the level of development between ASEAN member countries and ASEAN Strategic Partner Countries, this does not limit the space for future negotiations.
ASEAN Strategic Partners who incidentally are developed countries often propose new issues to be covered in the scope of cooperation, such as in the fields of energy, environment, employment, inclusive trade, and others. Some export products of East Java Province that have been successfully exported to countries in Europe and the USA include fishery products such as frozen shrimp, squid, frozen tuna and seaweed, wooden doors; footwear; processed foods, and so on. "Hopefully all stakeholders can contribute in developing and making maximum use of ASEAN cooperation with new partners to support economic growth in the region, as well as benefit efforts to recover the national and regional economy as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in East Java," he concluded.
