According to the data obtained from the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Indonesia the trade surplus for Indonesia had reached 106.67 percent by July 2011.
The figure was obtained after in 2009 the surplus reached USD 1,950 billion then the figure increased in 2010 to USD 1,511 billion or up 22.83 percent.
Taiwan`s representative to Indonesia Andrew Hsia said in an interview earlier this week with ANTARA that Indonesia is a wonderful destination for investment in terms of resources and the huge domestic market.
Hsia claimed that Indonesia is now experiencing surplus from Taiwan, because Taiwan is buying a lot of natural resources such as gas and coal.
Due to its lack of natural resources, Taiwan had to purchase several top commodities from Indonesia which is considered as having abundant resources.
"Indonesia`s economy is performing so well, everybody knows that, so we are one of the countries interested in investing more in Indonesia," said Hsia.
As Taiwan`s representative in Indonesia, Hsia knows Indonesian society, economic performance, and would like to see more investment coming to Indonesia.
Hsia also said that he and TETO would like to encourage the Taiwanese government to pay more attention to Indonesia.
"To Southeast Asia in general, to Indonesia in particular I think there`s no reason why we cannot work together closer, our economies are complementary to each other," Hsia said.
"Indonesia has the resources, a big market while Taiwan has the technology, so why not work together for the benefit of both of our countries and peoples," he said.
Improving Trade and Investment Prospects
Based on the data, Indonesian exports to Taiwan had also shown an improvement since 2009 valued at USD 5,183 billion then increased to USD 6,020 billion in 2010 and by July 2011 the figure reached USD 4,350 billion.
Meanwhile, Taiwan exports to Indonesia also improved from 2009 valued USD 3,226 billion, then increased to 4,510 billion in 2010 and by July 2011 the figure reached 3,041 billion.
The total trade value between Indonesia and Taiwan also increased from USD 8.410 billion in 2009 to USD 10,53 billion in 2010, and by July 2011 it was recorded at USD 7,390 billion.
According to the data from the Indonesian investment coordinating board (BKPM) , by March 2011, Taiwan`s total investment had reached USD 14.046 billion.
For 2011, Taiwan`s investment amounted to USD 5.11 million, the figure has shown an increase by 120 percent compared to the same period in the previous year of 2010.
Taiwan also considered to be Indonesia`s number 9 foreign direct investment sources creating about one million job opportunity in Indonesia.
The number of Taiwanese companies who are now operating in Indonesia namely Pao-chen Shoes co., ACER, Bank Chinatrust, President Food, PT. Indo Tai-Chen Textile, Evergreen group and Na Ya Plastic Corp.
For economic cooperation Taiwan has signed an agreement on the promotion and reciprocal protection of Investment in 1990 and in 1995 also signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes in income.
Apart from the existing cooperation, Indonesia and Taiwan has signed a MoU on one village one product cooperation for 2010-2013.
Indonesian Migrant Workers in Taiwan
In the manpower field, Taiwan and Indonesia on January 24, 2001 signed an MoU on placement of manpower which resulted in an increasing number of Indonesian migrant workers going to Taiwan.
By August 2011, some 168,000 Indonesian migrant workers were working in Taiwan. The figure was the largest among Southeast Asian countries.
Within two years, the number of Indonesian migrant workers increased by 35 thousand from 140,000 in 2009 to 175,000 in 2011.
Approximately 40 percent of the migrant workers in Taiwan are Indonesian and some of them working as fishermen.
According to Hsia, Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan are divided in two categories, namely care givers and fishermen.
Most of the care givers were very happy with the way they are treated, enjoying Taiwanese minimum wages, covered by national health insurance so they can see doctors free of charge, and have a very good working time so they can spend time with their families, said Hsia.
Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan were the third largest group currency makers to Indonesia after Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, where Indonesian migrant workers are representing 45 percent of migrant workers in Taiwan apart from Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.
As for Indonesians who work as fishing boat crews, they were also given attention by the Taiwanese government.
Hsia said the government of Taiwan is looking forward to discussing the matter with the Indonesian Maritime and Fisheries Ministry to sign an agreement for protection of Indonesian fishing crews who are working on Taiwanese fishing boats.
"This MoU is important to provide proper training, regular employment channels which can lead to lower wages due to improper legal documents. Then the protection would be better," he said. (*)
Reporter: Ageng Wibowo
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
