The Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan continues to open up trade opportunities with new countries or so-called non-traditional. One of them with South Asian countries such as Bangladesh. “There are many things that can be explored and developed in the trade relations between Indonesia and Bangladesh. Moreover, the two countries have a number of similarities and a large market, which has more than 400 million people with a Muslim majority," said Zulkifli Hasan as quoted from a written statement, Monday (10/10/2022). This was conveyed during a meeting with the United States (US)-Bangladesh Business Community which was attended by the Bangladesh-US Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and 30 US-Bangladesh business people in Queens, New York, United States (US). Zulkifli Hasan continued, a number of Indonesian products have the opportunity to increase their exports to Bangladesh. The Ministry of Trade has demonstrated its commitment to realizing this goal by exploring trade agreement negotiations between Indonesia and Bangladesh. It is hoped that this negotiation will increase the value of trade transactions through reducing import duty rates and trade preferences, as well as other conveniences can be achieved. In this meeting, various things that become obstacles in trade relations between Indonesia and Bangladesh, including the ease of obtaining a visa/business visa, the limited number of flights, and the two countries still not intensively read the opportunities and advantages of each country. In response to this, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan conveyed a number of strategies to increase Indonesia's trade that focused on developing potential export products to Bangladesh, such as energy, machinery, technology, to halal products. Others are maintaining products that have a strong market share in Bangladesh, and increasing the market share of products that need to be restored.
In addition, continued Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, the business community is also an important factor in responding to a number of challenges that are still faced by business people today. Closing the meeting, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan invited business actors to attend the 37th Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) and Jakarta Muslim Fashion Week (JMFW) which will be held on 19-23 October 2022 at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE), BSD, Tangerang, Banten. “TEI 2022 is the largest international trade fair in Indonesia. At this exhibition, various superior quality Indonesian products will be displayed. This exhibition can be a vehicle to get to know Indonesia's superior and potential products, as well as an opportunity to meet the needs or demands for imported products from Bangladesh," concluded the Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan. The value of Indonesia-Bangladesh trade in the January-August 2022 period was recorded at USD 2.51 billion, an increase of 36.16% compared to the same period the previous year. Of this value, Indonesia's exports to Bangladesh amounted to USD 2.44 billion with leading export commodities including palm oil, coal, cement, chemical wood pulp, and cotton. Meanwhile, Indonesia's imports from Bangladesh amounted to USD 68.50 million. Meanwhile, the total trade value between the two countries in 2021 recorded a surplus for Indonesia of USD 2.82 billion. The trade surplus was obtained from the value of Indonesia's exports to Bangladesh of USD 2.92 billion and Indonesia's imports from Bangladesh of USD 108.17 million.
