Athens (ANTARA) - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin on Friday invited Greek businesspersons to invest in the development of Indonesia's new capital, Nusantara, in East Kalimantan.

He extended the invitation during a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, at Maximos Mansion, Athens, on Friday local time.

"I also invite Greece to invest in the development of the capital city Nusantara," he said.

Amin arrived at Maximos Mansion, the Greek prime minister's office, at 9:30 a.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB) on the third day of his visit to Greece.

Through the visit, he aimed to strengthen and increase bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Greece, including in the economic sector.

Besides promoting the new capital at the meeting, Amin highlighted that there is a lot of potential for bilateral cooperation that can be explored in the blue economy and tourism sectors.

"This momentum needs to be used by increasing the facilitation of business players' interaction in investment priority sectors, such as maritime, shipyard, tourism, and agribusiness," he said.

In the investment sector, there was a 10-fold increase in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same period the previous year, the Vice President pointed out.

In the trade sector, he invited the Greek government to increase cooperation in strategic sectors, noting that the volume of trade as of September 2023 declined by 20 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

"To this end, I welcome the Economic Cooperation Action Plan, which was signed in May 2023," he said.

Based on data from the Ministry of Trade, the value of trade between Indonesia and Greece declined by 20 percent to US$265 million in January–September 2023 from US$331.8 million in the corresponding period of 2022.

In addition, the Vice President sought support from the Greek prime minister in helping Indonesia end the European Union's discriminative policies on its strategic products, such as palm oil and wood.

"These products are also needed by Greece, and (the policies) contradict our efforts to increase bilateral trade," he said.



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Translator: Indra Arief, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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