InfoSAWIT, KAIRO – Minister of Trade Indonesian Republic, Zulkifli Hasan told that Indonesia and Egypt would always reinforce the profitable bilateral trade. For the last seven decades, Egypt has become one important partner to Indonesia’s trade in the global level. Egypt is the first country in Arab that acknowledged Indonesia’s independence. Minister Zulkifli told it when attending business forum that Egypt and Indonesian stakeholders (businessmen) did on Sunday (14/5/2023) in Kairo, Egypt.
Ambassador of Indonesia in Arab, Lutfi Rauf; Head of Egyptian Commercial Service Yahya Al Wathiq Billah; General Secretary of Egypt–Indonesia Business Council Ahmad Bahgat; representatives of Indonesian Chambers; Indonesia Egypt Business Council; Indonesia’s associations and Egypt, and business from both countries attended the meeting.
Suez canals play its role to make Egypt as the gate to other countries in bay, Africa, and Middle East regions. More than 11o million Egyptian are the prospective markets for Indonesia. Besides, the increasing population in Egypt that reached 2,5 – 3,5 percent per year, increased the food commodity demands in the country.
Minister Zulkifli Hasan said that it needs to support, escalate economic partnership between Indonesia and Egypt in infrastructures, and other facilities. The Government of Indonesia would accommodate to establish joint trade committee in the future to be discussing trade relationship enhancement to get preferential trade agreement (PTA).
“We hope that the result from negotiation and other cooperation between Indonesia and Egypt can be advantaged by both countries’ stakeholders, namely exporters from Indonesia that attended the business meeting. We proposed palm oil and its derivatives, coffee, cocoa, and processed foods, and logistics,” Minister Zulkifli said, as in the official statement to InfoSAWIT, Monday (15/5/2023).
A Glance of Trade between Indonesia–Egypt
In January – March 2023, the trade between the two countries reached USD 432,90 million. In the period, the exports from Indonesia reached USD 379,40 million and imports reached USD 53,50 million. It means, trade balance for Indonesia got surplus about USD 325,80 million.
While the 2022 total trade reached USD 1,57 billion. From the numbers, the exports from Indonesia to Egypt reached USD 1,34 billion and the imports of Indonesia from Egypt reached USD 0,23 billion. It means, Indonesia got surplus about USD 1,11 billion. In the past five years (2018–2022), the trade in the two countries showed positively for 11,21 percent.
The main export products from Indonesia to Egypt were palm oil, coffee, coconut, thread, and parts used for apparatus. While the main imports of Indonesia from Egypt were phosphate mineral fertilizers, dates, figs, pine, avocado, guava, mineral fertilizers, drops from extraction or refining sugar, and natural calcium phosphate. (T2)
