VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: The Indonesian government hopes that the performance of Saudi Arabian importers of Indonesian products can be improved to increase trade between the two countries.

The Trade Attaché of the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh Gunawan said that his party had made a number of efforts so that Indonesian products could be better known in Saudi Arabia.

"We are trying to make Indonesian products not only easy to find but if they can flood Saudi Arabia," he said in the Diplomacy Domain program broadcast on Voice of Indonesia in Jakarta, Tuesday (29/3).

A number of these efforts include the awarding of the 2022 Primaduta award from the Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia to 6 (six) Saudi Arabian importers which was handed over on Sunday (26/3).

According to Gunawan, the six importers are Arroqeeb Universal Group, Sami Al Khatiri, Said Bawazer Trading Company (SBTC), Bin Sihon, Midad Holding Company, and Khalid Stationary. He said, of the 6 importers, 3 were new importers who received the Primaduta award, namely Arroqeeb Universal Group, Midad Holding Company, and Khalid Stationary.

“With the emergence of these new companies, it can motivate other importers who also want to receive awards. So they end up competing to import much better Indonesian products," he said.

Gunawan explained that there are a number of criteria that must be met by Saudi Arabian importers who want to get the Primaduta award, namely carrying out promotional activities for Indonesian products, taking part in the process of increasing the added value of Indonesian export products, having inspiring stories while importing Indonesian products, and being a pioneer in importing this type of product. 

"We don't give awards to the performing importers every year because not all countries get the title as a performing importer. So this does have criteria," he explained.

Apart from giving the Primaduta award, to encourage the performance of Saudi Arabian importers, Indonesia has also proposed a Joint Feasibility Study (JFS) within the framework of the Indonesia-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) CEPA cooperation in 2018. According to Gunawan, one of the points of concern to Indonesia is the adjustment of entry tariffs for products from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia.

"With this, it is hoped that Indonesian products can be more competitive and the people of Saudi Arabia who have high purchasing power can of course bring more Indonesian goods," he said.

In addition to these efforts, according to Gunawan, Indonesia also has a potential market for domestic products in Saudi Arabia. He said the market potential was evident from the number of Umrah pilgrims from Indonesia, which reached 250 thousand of people every month. In addition, pilgrims from Indonesia reached more than 221 thousand pilgrims. Until the number of pilgrims from Indonesia in Saudi Arabia reached more than 350 thousand people.

"There's a large number of Indonesian people in Saudi Arabia, the market already exists. If the market already exists, our export potential will be very large," he said.

According to data from the Indonesian Ministry of Trade, Indonesia-Saudi Arabia's Non-Oil and Gas export performance in the January-January 2023 period experienced an increase of 75.57%, from USD 125.9 million to USD 221 million compared to 2022 in the same period. In addition, according to Gunawan, the total trade between the two countries in 2022 will exceed USD 7 billion compared to the previous year which only reached USD 5.5 billion.

"And in 2022 our non-oil and gas exports have reached more than USD 1 billion and that is more than 30%," he said.

With these efforts, Gunawan hopes that the performance of Saudi Arabian importers can continue to be boosted so that Saudi Arabia's ranking as one of Indonesia's strategic trade partners can continue to be improved. (VOI/Andy)