JAKARTA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Indonesia have pledged to edge up the trade volume by twice in the next five years as the two nations still have more business opportunities which can be explored further, officials of the nations have said.
Deputy for the Coordination of the International Economic Cooperation at the Coordinating Ministry of Economy Rizal Affandi Lukman said here on Wednesday that both countries have committed to drifting up the trade volume to 60 billion U.S. dollars in 2024 from the current level of 30 billion U.S. dollars.
"Indonesia and the United States have a commitment to ratcheting up the volume of two-way trade," he said at JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.
The official pointed out that the commitment is a follow-up on the talks carried out last years by the two nations.
To achieve the target, he said, Indonesia would ship more raw materials from the United States and re-export them to the latter in the form of products with added values.
"So we will import some products from the United States and at the same time we will re-export the products with higher added values," said Rizal.
The official said that the import products could also only be used for the domestic textile industry.
Furniture and textile are among the sectors which could be developed further, he added.
U.S. ambassador to Indonesia Joseph R. Donovan Jr. confirmed the commitment, saying that his country would boost investment in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who visited Indonesia earlier this month, emphasized that the trade cooperation would accelerate Indonesia's GDP growth by up to 7 percent on condition that the U.S. firms have an equal flying field in competition in Indonesia.
He said that regulations which have often changed have hemmed in business, mass media reported.
The Indonesian government has scrambled to ratchet up shipment of products abroad, which has been dragged down by the slowing global demand, and thus promised to incentivize business sectors to motivate them to expand market of their products offshore.
