“Indonesia is an important economic partner of Bulgaria and we will keep on maintaining these well established economic relations. The potential surpasses the statistical data we have and we should develop it”. This was stated by the Minister of Economy Bojidar Loukarsky at the meeting held today with His Excellency Bunian Saptomo, Ambassador of Indonesia. He added one of Bulgaria’s goals is to secure a foothold on markets outside the EU, such as the Asian one.
They discussed initiatives for the promotion of bilateral relations and the upcoming economic forum, Trade Expo, in Jakarta, which is held every year in October. His Excellency Bunian Saptomo suggested to appoint three honorary consuls in Varna, Bourgas and Veliko Turnovo to sustain the dialogue between Bulgaria and Indonesia on a regional level as well.
Within the talk Minister Loukarsky launched an active dialogue on the implementation of specific measures for boosting bilateral relations. One of the options outlined is the organization of an economic forums this year. In May, the Indonesian Deputy Trade Minister is expected to visit Bulgaria when business visits and economic forums are planned to be carried out.
For 2012, the bilateral trade amounted to. USD 56.8 mln. (growth of nearly 32% compared to 2011), including USD 23.8 mln. export (36% growth), and USD 33.0 mln. import (growth of approximately 30%).
For 2013, the total trade exchanged with Indonesia is at the amount of USD 72.3 million (an increase of nearly 27%), including USD 34.6 mln. exports (growth of approximately 45%) and USD 37.7 million imports (growth of approximately 14%). The negative balance for Bulgaria amounted to -3.1 million USD.
For the period January- September 2014 total trade with Indonesia is in aggregate of USD 62.9 million (an increase of 15.4% compared to the same period of 2013), including USD 29.8 mln. exports (14.2% increase) and USD 33.1 million imports (16.5% increase). The negative balance for Bulgaria amounted to -3.3 million USD.