Set A Target Transaction Of 11 Billion US Dollars At Trade Expo Indonesia 2023, Ministry Of Trade Targets Chinese Buyers

Director General of National Export Development of the Ministry of Trade Didi Sumedi. (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Trade installed a transaction of 11 billion US dollars from the 38th Trade Expo Indonesia series in 2023. One of the countries targeted in this event is China.

The Director General of National Export Development at the Ministry of Trade, Didi Sumedi, explained that the target set this time increased from 1 billion from last year's target of 10 billion US dollars.

"At that time, if I'm not mistaken (targeted) 10 billion dollars, but we passed it. This year is a challenge for us because (the transaction realization) of 15.8 billion US dollars is not easy to achieve, especially since the world economy is slowing down," he said at a press conference at the Ministry of Trade Office, Jakarta, Thursday, October 5.

Didi explained that the country being targeted this year is China even though the country's economic growth is weakening. The reason is, the country provided great support in Indonesia's trade exponent last year.

"Like it or not, China is still China because even though it is weakening. Everything is weakening in this world. But yes, China is our main target to be able to export us to continue to perform," he said.

"Because China's absorption is extraordinary and also the composition of products and commodities that we export there are many variations. Unlike other countries. In other words, China is whatever it is absorbed as long as it does not have production, there is but small," he continued.

Apart from China, Didi said Malaysia and the Middle East were also targeted countries. He said Malaysia's neighboring countries also provided considerable support for last year's trade expo event.

"The Middle East, which is quite promising, especially after the completion of the UAE-Indonesia CEPA, provides energy for us to be able to this year and next year to be better. Because this UAE is a country that can become a hub to other middle eastern countries," he said.

Even so, Didi acknowledged that the world economy is weakening after the pandemic and is predicted to continue until 2024. He said, it also refers to the predictions of a number of world institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"IMF and World Bank say 2023 is expected to decline world economic growth to 2.1 percent, and 2024 to slightly increase at 2.9 percent," he said.

Furthermore, Didi said the figure shows that the trend of weakening global economic growth is still not good.

"Indeed, the numbers are different from each institution, but similar. This means that similar things reflect that the economy is still not good," he said.