Have The Same Harta Karun, RIAfsel Agrees To Reduce Exports And Encourage Downstreaming

The meeting of the Indonesian and South African delegates (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Industry)

JAKARTA - Indonesia and South Africa (South Africa) open up more comprehensive opportunities for cooperation through the Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) agreed in the middle of this week in Bali.

Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said the opportunity to deepen bilateral relations would be more focused on non-traditional sector economic cooperation.

It can be said that currently the two countries are exploring the PTA which aims to open up market opportunities. PTA is an effort to strengthen the manufacturing industry of the two countries, especially in the military equipment sector, processed food products, and agriculture," he said in an official statement in Jakarta, Sunday, September 25.

According to the Minister of Industry, Indonesia and South Africa are both rich in mineral and precious metal products.

"We are trying to moderately implement controls on exports, especially exports of raw materials, in the hope of encouraging downstreaming these mineral products into products with higher added value," he said.

He explained that through the downstream policy, Indonesia's nickel has succeeded in encouraging the growth of smelters that produce NPI/FeNI products, thereby increasing capacity in the development of the stainless steel industry.

Six years ago, our exports from nickel were only 1.1 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, in 2021 yesterday it had reached 20.9 billion US dollars. He jumped the added value up to 19 times," he said.

In addition to energy and mining cooperation, there is also the potential for halal cooperation and the automotive industry and its components.

Then, both parties also agreed to share experiences and create opportunities for cooperation and continue communication regularly. Work with local industry is also carried out in order to create a balanced investment value.

For information, the value of South Africa's investment in Indonesia during the 2021 period was US$1.46 million with a total of 14 projects.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's total non-oil and gas trade with South Africa in the same year reached US$2.8 billion, an increase of 122 percent compared to 2020 which was US$1.3 billion.