Seriously Working On The Latin American And Caribbean Markets, The Indonesian Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Holds INA-LAC 2024 In Lima Peru

Ki-ka Director of America 2 Directorate General of Amerop of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Riris Wusananingdyah, Director General of America and Europe of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Umar Hadi, Chairman of the Central American, Cuban and CARICOM Committees KADIN Prasetyo Singgih (Kemlu RI/Infomed/Refi)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will hold a Latin America and the Caribbean Indonesian Business Forum (INA-LAC) in Lima, Peru, next month, as a serious step towards working on Latin American and Caribbean markets.

Held since 2019, this year's INA-LAC will be different from the previous event, where the event which will be held on 11-13 September will be held abroad.

"We decided last year that INA-LAC was carried out in a Latin American-Karibia country," explained the Director General of America and Europe of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Umar Hadi in a press statement in Jakarta, Tuesday, August 27.

"We hold it in Lima, Peru. Usually Latin entrepreneurs come to Jakarta. This time, we come there, to Peru. This year Peru will also host the APEC Summit in November," he explained.

A number of event agendas that will be held in the event with the main theme 'Diversification of Indonesian Partners of Trade and Economy' include Business Matching and Pitching, INA-LAC Business and Society Network, Product Exhibition, Talks CEO, Cultural Performances, Culinary Promotion

He explained that Indonesia's current composition of international trade is neighboring countries in ASEAN, East Asia, Middle East, North America and then Europe. There are two areas that need to be boosted again, namely Africa and Latin America-Karibia

"In fact, now, Latin American countries are trying to expand their trade partnerships with countries in Asia, they also have the same needs," he explained.

According to Ambassador Umar Hadi, the potential for Indonesia's trade relations with the region has not been utilized. On the other hand, friendly countries have worked on the market.

"China has a forum business there, Singapore has, South Korea has, so we need to be present in the area there," he said.

"Simply put together the business actors of both parties," he said.

He added, in last year's INA-LAC event, there was a business agreement of around 18.75 million US dollars (Rp291,165,000,000), while the potential for transactions reached 388 million US dollars.

"This year, I hope to deal in more space than last year, say 20 million US dollars," hoped Ambassador Umar Hadi.

"More than that, the target is the enthusiasm of Indonesian and Latin American entrepreneurs in this event, it will be reflected in the number of attendances," he said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Central American, Cuban and CARICOM Committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) Prasetyo Singgih said his party would try to develop markets in Latin America and the Caribbean, which have not been relatively exploited.

"One of the motivations is that neighboring countries have gone there and the value is not small. If they can do it, why can't we," he said.

"There is nothing more valuable to a businessman than looking into his eyes, shaking hands and dealing with each other, agreeing on a deal," he added.

Especially for countries in the Caribbean region, political problems are not too much of a problem. The Caribbean is a market that is relatively untouched, for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, that's a good thing, because there are not too many competitors," he said.

"On the other hand, for large companies, they are due to small countries, small populations, they do not serve small countries one by one," he explained.

"That's why we are trying to bridge it, try to explore the formation of a trading company and we place it in the Central American region. Maybe we can buy in greater quantities in Indonesia, then we sell in smaller lots to smaller countries," he added.

It is known that 33 countries from Central America, South America and the Caribbean have diplomatic relations with Indonesia.

Data from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Indonesian Ministry of Trade shows that the top three major export destination countries in 2023 in the region include Mexico (worth 2.16 billion US dollars), Brazil (1.28 billion US dollars) and Peru (367.4 million US dollars).

The top three trade surpluses in the region were recorded with Mexico (worth 1.72 billion US dollars), Peru (290 million US dollars) and Guatemala (189 million US dollars).

Meanwhile, the top three major importing countries in the region in 2023 are Brazil (4.86 billion US dollars), Argentina (1.39 billion US dollars) and Mexico (370 million US dollars).

And, for the top three trade deficits last year in this area including Brazil (USD 3.58 billion), Argentina (1.19 billion US dollars) and Ecuador (USD 99 million).

The plan is that there are around 44 large and small companies from Indonesia that have superior export products that will participate in INA-LAC this time.