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Saturday, June 10, 2017

INDONESIA KEEN ON TIE-UPS WITH KERALA

INDONESIA KEEN ON TIE-UPS

WITH KERALA

Photo Credit: S. GOPAKUMAR
Indonesia has plans to collaborate with Kerala in commerce, health care, education, and tourism.A seven-member team led by Consul General Saut Siringoringo is in the State capital for the last two days to explore the possibility of tie-ups and for interacting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the local chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Trivandrum Chamber of Commerce.The visit is also to woo buyers, traders, investors, and business visitors to the 32nd edition of the four-day Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) organised by the Ministry of Trade in ICE-BSD City - Banten from October 11.
India topped the list of 10 buyers at the last edition of TEI with a transaction of $83 million and the biggest contingent of 150 buyers came from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.Furniture, processed food, spice, essential oil, building material, agri products, fish, footwear, and auto components were the best selling products in the 2016 edition of TEI. Coal and crude palm oil dominated bilateral trade with the total trade touching $12.96 billion last year.“The 2017 edition of TEI is aiming for 1,100 exhibitors, 16,000 visitors, and transaction of $1.1 billion. We look forward to greater participation from the Southwest at the B2B exhibition and the trade and commerce organisations are positive,” Mr. Siringoringo told .
The Consul General said the local chapters of the CII and the chamber had agreed to send a delegation to Indonesia to explore alliance tie-ups.Tourism is another proposed area of tie-up with more road shows planned to tier-II cities. Pointing out that Indonesia is a safe and secure destination, the Consul General said tourist arrivals from India touched 3.76 lakh in 2016 from 2.93 lakh in 2015.A daily flight from Bali to Mumbai and visa-free travel for 169 countries from March 2, 2016 had led to the inflow.The target is 4.6 lakh tourist arrivals from India this year. “South is important for us. Chennai is providing good traffic and our focus will be Kerala in the coming days,” Mr. Siringoringo added.
Prof. John Kurakar


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