Apindo Soroti Opportunity for Eurasian Agreement, Entrepreneurs Asked to Take Advantage of Cooperation with Belarus

JAKARTA - The meeting between President Prabowo Subianto and President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko not only produced a diplomatic agenda. The business world sees greater opportunities, namely to take advantage of the Indonesia Trade Agreement with the Eurasian region whose process has been completed.

Chairman of the National Leadership Council (DPN) of the Indonesian Business Association (Apindo) Shinta W. Kamdani said that the main discussion in the bilateral meeting was the realm of the government. The roadmap for cooperation between Indonesia and Belarus has also been prepared through intergovernmental talks.

"If it's from business, yesterday there was a meeting with a Belarusian company," said Shinta at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, Thursday, July 2.

According to Shinta, the presence of business actors in the state banquet is more diplomatic and builds relationships between parties. The Belarusian delegation also brought a number of representatives, including from the business sector, although the number is not much.

Shinta explained that various cooperation discussed by the government included the agricultural sector and other fields that had been agreed upon in bilateral meetings. However, the attention of the business world is now focused on the implementation of the Indonesia Trade Agreement with the Eurasian region.

He said the agreement had been negotiated. The next challenge is no longer to draft an agreement, but to take advantage of the opportunities that are already available.

"The most important thing is the Eurasian Agreement. The agreement is complete. Now it's just being utilized," he said.

According to Shinta, the utilization of the agreement will run through Indonesia's relations with each member country, such as Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan. Therefore, each country has room to develop economic cooperation according to its potential.

For business actors, said Shinta, the most important thing now is to utilize the results of the cooperation that has been signed to provide added value for trade and investment between the two parties.