Jakarta (ANTARA) - Bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands in the trade and investment sectors was intensified through a meeting between Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 2022 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting agenda in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, May 25.
"Bilateral trade between Indonesia and the Netherlands always shows a surplus for Indonesia," he noted in an official statement received here on Thursday.
In 2020, the bilateral trade value between both nations was recorded at US$3.92 billion, with national exports reaching US$3.11 billion and imports valued at US$804.3 million.
The Netherlands is Indonesia's 11th-largest export destination. The commodities making up the total exports comprised palm oil, at 14 percent; chemical products, 12 percent; and copra and its derivative products, six percent.
The others included vegetable or animal oils and their derivative products, at six percent; petroleum, five percent; chocolate, butter, fat, and oil, three percent; as well as tin, three percent; footwear items, two percent; and acids and their derivative products, two percent.
During the 2016-2021 period, the Netherlands was recorded as the 5th-largest investor of a total of 157 countries investing in Indonesia. The investment value was recorded at US$9.68 billion, or 5.43 percent of the total foreign investment.
Some 34 percent of the investment was in the electricity, gas, and water sectors; 1.92 percent in the transportation, warehouse, and telecommunications sectors; and 16.7 percent in the mining sector.
The two nations had also inked an MoU on Cooperation in Sustainable Production of Palm Oil in 2019 and a Technical Arrangement in 2020 and the NI-SCOPS Implementation Plan that was agreed on April 24, 2020.
He also called for improving cooperation in the semiconductor sector and progress in investment of Dutch companies in Indonesia, such as Unilever in the oleochemical sector in the Sei Mangkei special economic area, Philips in the medical sector, and construction of the Frisian Flag factory in Cikarang.
Prime Minister Rutte expects that the investment process for the business expansion of Dutch companies would be made easier through structural reforms that would promote effectiveness and efficiency in the licensing process in Indonesia.
The Netherlands welcomed the idea if Indonesia ever offered investment opportunities in the education sector, both for higher education and vocational training.
The Netherlands also offered the Nuffic-Neso scholarship that offered opportunities for Indonesian students keen to study in the Netherlands.
Related news: Trade minister emphasizes need to rearrange global commodity trade
Related news: Indonesia's trade deficit with China plunges 47.99 percent
Related news: Indonesia-New Zealand bilateral meeting held on sidelines of APEC
