Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Trade transactions on the first day of the 37th Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) 2022 held at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE), Tangerang city, Banten province, recorded 100 agreements signed with buyers from 14 countries, with a value of 1 .19 billion U.S. dollars or equivalent to 18.45 trillion rupiahs.

Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan made the remarks when witnessing the trade transaction process on Wednesday (Oct. 19), as quoted by the Indonesian Cabinet Secretariat here on Thursday.

"I believe that the trust and enthusiasm of trading partners from abroad for Indonesian business actors reflect their great trust in the momentum of 'Strengthening Global Trade For Global Recovery' carried by Indonesia in the 37th TEI," the minister said.

The signing of the 100 trade agreements consists of 99 memorandums of understanding (MoU) and one letter of intent (LoI).

The value of the trade agreement consists of trade contracts of Indonesian business actors with buyers from Japan (411.25 million dollars), Malaysia (175.89 million dollars), Egypt (150.00 million dollars), the Netherlands (120.11 million dollars), Saudi Arabia (112.99 million dollars), Italy (82.95 million dollars), the United Kingdom (62.00 million dollars), the United States (42.00 million dollars), Australia (11.65 million dollars), Brazil (10.00 million dollars), Spain (10.10 million dollars), Germany (3.00 million dollars), Bangladesh (2.00 million dollars), and the Philippines (43.00 thousand dollars).

Commodities in the trade contracts include foods and beverages, fishery products, paper products, palm oil shells, processed foods, medicines, vegetables, briquettes, palm sugar, coffee, furniture, beauty products, spices, wood products, and motor vehicle tires. In addition, there are also investment contracts for power supply projects from land to meet shore to ship power supply needs.

The minister expressed his appreciation to the Indonesian trade representatives, namely the Trade Attaché and the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), in accredited countries.

"Indonesian trade representatives abroad are committed to continuously improving the performance of expanding Indonesian products in partner country markets so as to increase Indonesia's non-oil and non-gas exports," he said.

Previously, when opening the 37th TEI, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) expressed his hope that this event would be able to record large transactions while increasing Indonesia's trade balance surplus.

"Hopefully we can later achieve what was targeted by the Minister of Trade, more than 10 billion U.S. dollars. We hope that this would boost our trade balance surplus in the future," the president said.

On the occasion, President Jokowi also appreciated the performance of all parties who succeeded in maintaining Indonesia's trade balance surplus for a period of 29 months.

Reporting by Indonesia Window