Joining The Trade Mission To Riyadh, Governor Of Khofifah Lifting Potential Food And Beverage For East Java IKM

East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa (central) accompanied by Saudi Arabian Ambassador Abdul Aziz Ahmad (three right) took a photo with businessmen from East Java and Riyadh at Cultural Palace Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The East Java Provincial Government is expanding access to the export trade market for business actors through an international trade mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"This is a strategic activity that is expected to attract investment and increase exports of various leading commodities to meet the needs of the trade market in Saudi Arabia," said East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, November 29.

The number one person in the East Java Provincial Government led a trade mission accompanied by a number of heads of related regional apparatus organizations for a day, Monday, at Cultural Palace Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Attended by many elements of business actors in various fields, this activity brings together business actors, especially exporters and importers and distributors from both countries, both from East Java and from Riyadh.

Governor Khofifah thanked the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh for their full support for the smooth running of the trade mission.

"Thank you also to the Government of Saudi Arabia, especially Riyadh Province," said the first female governor in East Java.

At the beginning of the trade mission, almost all the products offered have recorded transactions and obtained distributor partners, including investment commitments.

Khofifah also said that there are East Java commodities that have the potential to fill the Saudi Arabian market, especially various food and beverage products in the small and medium industry.

Investasi di Jatim dijamin manfaat karena didukung infrastruktur baik dan kondusif. Terlebih pertumbuhan ekonominya terus menunjukkan peningkatan signifikan. Dan kondusifnya iklim usaha di Jatim mendorong investasi terus tumbuh, katanya.

He explained that East Java's economic growth outside the non-oil and gas sector was the highest among provinces on the island of Java.

In the third quarter of 2022, 6.13 percent grew, including investment growth which was almost double compared to the national one in the first semester of 2022 (year on year) 69.2 percent, while the national one was 35.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Governor Khofifah reasoned that he chose Saudi Arabia as the first goal of a trade mission because it was listed as the second largest country with the main goal of East Java's exports to the Middle East region after the United Arab Emirates.

The Indonesian Ministry of Industry noted that the export value of East Java products to Saudi Arabia for the January-July 2022 period reached 97.98 million US dollars.

Meanwhile, the import value of Saudi Arabia to East Java in the same period reached 49.41 million US dollars, bringing the trade surplus to 48.58 million US dollars.

The three main destinations are Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh. Including various commodities that have been routinely sent to Saudi Arabia.

"There are a lot of columnarization, cloves, wood charcoal, robust coffee, and even MSG. The contribution even reached 35.65 percent of the total exports to Saudi Arabia," he said.

Then, East Java is also noted to be still dependent on imports from Saudi Arabia for several items, such as polyproylene, methanol, ethilen polymers, dates, sheep skin, non-woven cloth, kas, paint from acrylic or vinyl materials until artificial night.

The governor also said that there are still many other commodity potentials that can be increased by the two regions, including sports footwear, cardamom, and cathodes.

What is certain, he said, is that the provincial government is ready to facilitate the ease of the licensing process to product certification for exporters who have potential to Saudi Arabia.

In the same place, Saudi Arabian Ambassador Abdul Aziz Ahmad expressed his full support for the trade mission and was expected to be able to increase Indonesia's exports to Saudi Arabia.

"This is a very good program to pave the way for East Java export businesses to be able to access markets in Riyadh," he said.

On this occasion, three memorandums of agreement were signed, namely the East Java Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and Sami Al Khatri Trading Est, then also with Multaqo Alfonoon Est.

One more thing, between the company PT. Sekar Laut Tbk and Mizanain Trading And Marketing Est.