"It is really difficult for the trade ministry to achieve the target due to the lingering crises in the conventional markets for Indonesia`s exports such as Europe and the United States. But this is a challenge for us to boost our non-oil/non-gas exports," Secretary General of the Trade Ministry Ardiansyah Parman said at a discussion on increasing exports and international trade cooperation here on Thursday.
Indonesia`s exports in the first four months of 2012 slightly rose by 4.1 percent to US$64.5 billion from the same period last year, with non-oil/non-gas exports increasing 2.3 percent to US$51.2 billion and oil and gas exports 12 percent to US$13.3 billion, he added.
However, imports in the year to April 2012 went up by 16.18 percent to US$62.37 billion, dominated by raw materials worth US$45.49 billion or 72.93 percent of the total import value, he said.
"We have taken a number of strategies by among others maintaining access to the export market for Indonesian commodities through a variety of international forums," he said.
The international forums included the Doha Round within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), while the regional forums included the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), not to mention a number of bilateral forums, he said.
In addition, Indonesia had also been actively promoting its exports products through various exhibitions, trade missions, and matching programs which served as a forum between producers and consumers, he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
