Indonesia to boost trade, tourism links with Kingdom

Indonesia opened a trade and tourism center in Riyadh last week, as part of a plan to boost links in the commercial and tourism sectors. The move to open the center on the part of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, will advance its interests and bolster ties with Saudi Arabia in the fields of economy and tourism.
The center, titled the Trade, Tourism and Investment Corner (TTI Corner), will introduce Indonesia’s potential business and other opportunities to Saudi businessman, said Tuan Sunarko, charge d’affaires at the Indonesian Embassy.
The opening ceremony of the TTI Corner at the Indonesian embassy was attended by a large number officials and businessmen. Among them were Wawan Sudarmawan, commercial officer at the embassy, Colonel Roedy Roemin Achmad, defense attache, and Hassan Yousif Awad, MD of Progressive Agencies.
The opening of the TTI Corner, which is part of the Jakarta’s efforts to expand cooperation in trade and tourism sectors, also seeks to dispel the notion that Indonesia is only a labor-exporting country.
Sunarko pointed out that trade between the two countries exceeded $8.67 billion in 2014, an increase of 4.99 percent compared to the previous year. He noted that Indonesia’s exports to the Kingdom in 2014 amounted to $2.15 billion, which is an increase of 24.35 percent, while imports totaled $6.51 billion, down by 0.16 percent.
Indonesia’s major imports from Saudi Arabia are oil, organic chemicals, plastics, chemical products, pulp, iron and steel, cotton and metal goods.
Regarding relations in tourism sector, the Indonesian diplomat said: “A growing trend in tourist traffic has been reported between the two countries. A total of 167,082 Saudis visited Indonesia in 2014, compared to 111,761 the year before.”
The number of tourists from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia, primarily to perform Haj and Umrah, exceeds one million every year.