Indonesia's mission to Qatar brought to Qatar include palm oil and its derivatives, paper products, automotive, batteries, foods and beverages, home decorations, handicraft products, garments, and beauty products.

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesia managed to book a potential transaction of 23.2 billion rupiahs (about 1.51 million U.S. dollars) on a trade mission to Qatar led by Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan.

The potential transaction was successfully recorded during a business matching session which was held in Qatar’s capital city of Doha on Monday (Oct. 10), the Ministry of Trade said in a written statement received on Tuesday.

“Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), the trade mission to Qatar managed to record a potential transaction of 23.2 billion rupiahs, obtained from business matching," the minister said.

The potential for these transactions comes from beauty and hospitality products, spices and seasonings, snacks and processed foods, frozen fish, garments, and handicrafts.

According to him, the recorded potential value still has the potential to continue to grow in line with the various follow-up actions of business actors after the trade mission.

“The value has the potential to continue to grow, considering that business actors are still following up on requests from potential partners who have been met in exploring this trade agreement," he said.

The exploration of the trade agreement was attended by 11 Indonesian business actors and 42 Qatari counterparts.

Indonesia's mission to Qatar brought a number of mainstay products, including palm oil and its derivatives, paper products, automotive, batteries, foods and beverages, home decorations, handicraft products, garments, and beauty products.

When opening the Indonesia – Qatar Business Forum, Zulkifli said that trade between the Southeast Asian country and the Gulf state must be increased through synergy and collaboration between business actors from the two countries.

"Indonesia and Qatar have diplomatic relations that have existed since 1976 until now. Under the leadership of President Joko Widodo and His Excellency Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the two countries have agreed to increase cooperation in the fields of trade, investment and tourism," Zulkifli explained.

The cooperation is expected that the collaboration and synergy between the two countries can be strengthened, Zulkifli said, adding that Indonesia is a country with great potential as an investment destination.

"Based on its economic growth and its population, Indonesia has the enormous potential to be an investment destination," the minister noted.

He pointed out that 2022 would be an interesting year for both countries, because Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and Indonesia holds the G20 Presidency for the first time.

The 17th G20 Summit will take place in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Nov. 15-16, 2022 under the theme 'Recover Together, Recover Stronger'.

Reporting by Indonesia Window