"From the economic side, the trade volume of Saudi Arabia is much more surplus than ours as Indonesia buys oil from it," he pointed out here, Thursday.
Indonesia hoped that the Saudi Arabian government will open its market for Indonesian products as a reciprocal gesture for the bilateral trade relations shared between both countries.
Fachir stated that with regard to the economic cooperation between the two countries, Saudi Arabia tends to be better off.
According to Fachir, bilateral trade between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia reached about US$8.2 billion, of which Saudi Arabia enjoys a surplus of around US$5 billion.
He noted that about 750 thousand to one million Indonesians annually undertake Umrah pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
"Around 750 thousand Indonesians went on Umrah pilgrimage in 2013. We hope that the Saudi government encourages its people to come here," Fachir said.
In a bid to improve relations between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, Khalid bin Saud bin Khalid is visiting Indonesia on March 17-20 to hold a meeting with Indonesian officials, especially from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
