Jakarta: Pitching for greater cooperation between India and Indonesia, Vice President Hamid Ansari on Tuesday said while both countries share excellent relations, their bilateral trade and investments have not realised full potential. Addressing the India-Indonesia Business Forum in Jakarta, Ansari also said that there is a need to balance the bilateral trade between India and Indonesia.
"India and Indonesia share cordial political relations, the bilateral trade and investments have not realised its full potential. India is the largest buyer of crude palm oil from Indonesia and also imports coal, minerals, rubber, pulp and hydrocarbon in significant quantities," Ansari said.
"India exports refined petroleum products, maize, commercial vehicles, telecommunication equipment, oil seeds to Indonesia. There is a need to balance our bilateral trade as India's import from Indonesia was USD 15 billion against an export of USD 4 billion in 2014-15," he said.
In his address at the forum where Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla and a large number of business people from India and Indonesia were present, Ansari said ties between India and Indonesia remain vibrant and economic and commercial cooperation occupies prominent position in the bilateral discussions. He said he found a strong desire in Indonesian leadership to expand commercial engagement with India.
The Vice President stated that the market liberalisation of India in the nineties followed by calibrated economic reforms in the past decade has led to sustainable economic growth and socio-economic development and India's economy registered a growth of 7 per cent in the last quarter.
India's private sector has strengthened with the economic growth over the last two decades and it is keen to expand its global operations, Ansari added.
Ansari further said that innovative spirit of Indian industry, backed by a strong government research and development push and a network of quality education institutions, make India and the Indian companies the most promising business partners today.
The Vice President emphasised that India has launched its flagship programme of 'Make in India' for the ease of doing businesses through simplification of existing rules and regulations.
Infrastructure development and energy security are key areas for cooperation for emerging economies like India and Indonesia, he added. The Vice President said that India's 'Act East Policy', as articulated by the Prime Minister of India, aimed at rapidly scaling up our cooperation with ASEAN member countries in crucial areas.
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