It does not mean that we ignore a fair competition."
Hanoi (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has urged Vietnam to strengthen their strategic partnership instead of competing with each other to capture the regional and global markets, an Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) official stated here, Friday.

"Let us intensify our partnership in our efforts to dominate the ASEAN and global markets," the boards Business Empowerment Director Pratito Soeharyo informed the participants of the Indonesia-Vietnam Business Forum here.

The implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in early 2016 will result in the creation of a market base of over 600 million people in the Southeast Asian region, which the two countries can capitalize on optimally if they strengthen their partnership instead of competing with each other, he suggested.

Therefore, Soeharyo reiterated his calls for establishing a strategic partnership to optimize the benefits that can be reaped from the regional and global markets.

"It does not mean that we ignore a fair competition. However, it seems that cooperation is better," he pointed out.

By considering the economic dynamics of Vietnam, Soeharyo has often encouraged the Indonesian businesspersons, including small-and medium-scale entrepreneurs, to double their exports and investments in the country having a population of 90 million people.

The central government, in its efforts to improve Indonesias investment climate and to make it more attractive for domestic and foreign investors, has been carrying out deregulation and debureaucratization by rolling out several economic policy packages, he informed the forum.

Meanwhile, Sadikin of the Indonesian Embassy in Hanoi called on the two countries businesspersons to utilize the momentum offered by the AEC to strengthen their trade and investment cooperation. The business forum is being held along with a trade exhibition on December 10-12.

"We bring our products here to meet the needs of Vietnam. Thus, this trade exhibition is a platform for Indonesian companies to meet their product distributors in Vietnam," Sadikin informed journalists after opening the trade expo.

Indonesia and Vietnam have set a target to realize bilateral trade worth US$10 billion by 2018. The two nations are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations besides Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

(Reported by Ahmad Buchori/Uu.R013/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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