With India-Indonesia trade, tourism and investment relations looking set to grow exponentially, a senior Indonesian diplomat is in town to explore potential business opportunities with the State in maritime sector, IT, agribusiness and traditional industries.
Saut Siringoringo, the new Consul General of Indonesia in Mumbai, will invite industry captains in Kerala to showcase their business at the forthcoming Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) at Jakarta from October 21 to 25 with a view to forging collaborations.
“India and Indonesia have historic ties and scope for collaboration across fields is tremendous.
Indonesia wants to encourage FDI in maritime infrastructure development, dockyards, fisheries industries and improvement of maritime connectivity. There’s a desire to boost bilateral cooperation by transfer of technology, knowhow and capacity building in shipping and fisheries industries where Kerala could contribute,” Mr. Siringoringo, on his first visit to Kerala, told The Hindu during an interaction here on Thursday.
“The availability of skilled manpower works to Kerala’s advantage and IT/ITeS remains high on our agenda…. Besides, Indonesia and Kerala can look forward to cooperating in mining, mineral processing, construction machinery, agribusiness, food processing, real estate, building materials, raw cotton, steel, cement, heavy vehicle manufacturing, transportation, logistics, education, tourism and hospitality. Both should work towards bridging the knowledge gap in investment opportunities existing in either region by facilitating frequent visit exchanges, participation in trade fairs, business conferences and programme exchanges.”
Kerala’s traditional industries like handloom, cashew, coir, handicrafts possessed great business potential.
Indonesia could also partner the State in agriculture given the Kerala’s record in the production of pepper, coconut, rubber and coir, he said.
