Turkey has the potential to be the non-traditional source of supply for Indonesia’s main weapon system tools due to their advanced technology. Turkey is currently the second largest power in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO after the United States.

It was an important note from the Indonesian Ambassador toTurkey, Lalu Muhamad Iqbal, during Kompas Talks dialog theme: “Silaturrahmi Virtual Diaspora Jelang Tahun Baru 2023” at Ankara on Thursday, 29th December.

In addition to Ambassador Iqbal, the Ambassador of Indonesia to Australia, Siswo Pramono, The Head of Indonesian Trade Promotion Center in Sydney, Cristophorus Barutu, and The Head of Export School, Handita Joewono, also attended the event.

According to Ambassador Iqbal, Turkey made use of their neutral position to be more assertive and to accentuate their role in the International sphere. He referred to the role of Turkey in the Russia-Ukraine war, which was accepted by both sides.

He stated that Indonesia could learn from Turkey in terms of utilizing the situation by maintaining a non-aligned stance.

Furthermore, as the largest Moslem country in the world, Indonesia needs to make use of the halal label for embracing the global halal market. One of the halal certification collaborations has been agreed with Turkey’s institution.

In terms of trade, the trade transactions between Indonesia and Turkey in the first 10 months of 2022 have surpassed the amount of the previous year’s total trades. The number itself became the highest record of USD 2,6 billion with an increase of export by 56,7 percent. Meanwhile, imports decreased to 13,9 percent, which was lower than 2021 of 46,4 percent.

For the sector of tourism, the arrival of Indonesian tourists to Turkey was higher than the opposite. The country, which is led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was one of the first countries who have opened their borders while their neighbors haven’t done a similar thing.