Indonesians keen to invest in Bangladesh

Indonesian entrepreneurs are keen to invest in joint venture projects in Bangladesh's energy, power, transportation, infrastructure and tourism sectors, said Rina P Soemarno, ambassador of the Southeast Asian nation in Dhaka, yesterday.

She said Bangladesh and Indonesia have already signed a primary deal on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) and setting up an LNG-based 1,400-megawatt power plant in Kutubdia island of Cox's Bazar.

In January, Indonesia's state-owned energy company Pertamina and Bangladesh Power Development Board signed the memorandum of understanding to develop an integrated gas project with an estimated investment of $2 billion.

Soemarno spoke at a press briefing at Le Méridien hotel in Dhaka to announce the Indonesia Fair 2018. The three-day event starts tomorrow at the same venue.

The embassy is organising the exposition with support from the Indonesian trade and tourism ministries and the Indonesia-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

This is the first trade and cultural exposition of Indonesia in Bangladesh. It aims at encouraging Indonesian entrepreneurs and companies to invest in Bangladesh, Soemarno said.

She said a delegation of about 100 businesspeople will arrive in Dhaka to participate in the fair.

Business and networking programmes, trade exhibition, fashion shows, cultural performances, talk-shows, film screening, and selfie competition will be organised on the sidelines of the fair.

About the scope of broadening bilateral trade, Soemarno said Indonesia is a huge market with 26.5 crore people who could use more products and services from Bangladesh.

Indonesia is the 15th largest economy in the world with a gross domestic product of $1.1 trillion in 2017.

Soemarno said Bangladesh enjoys strong bilateral economic relations with Indonesia.  The volume of two-way trade was $1.67 billion in 2017, with Indonesia's export amounting to $1.59 billion.

Indonesia's major exports to Bangladesh are palm oil, coal, chemicals, wood pulp, yarn, and artificial staple fibres and imports include apparel products and jute yarn.

Soemarno said negotiations for tariff reduction are going on between the two countries. In January, Indonesia and Bangladesh agreed to commence talks on a preferential tariff agreement. This would hopefully increase bilateral trade, said the envoy.