VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, China  will continue economic diplomacy, particularly in the tourism sector as a form of contribution to Indonesia's development progress. Indonesian Ambassador to China and Mongolia, Djauhari Oratmangun at the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing on Monday (8/1) said that tourism also contributes significantly to Indonesia's gross domestic product. He  affirmed that Indonesia must carry out a lot of promotions in the tourism sector to attract tourists from China so that it can contribute to the tourism economy in Indonesia.

Based on data from the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics,  the number of foreign tourist visits to the country until October 2023 reached 7.4 million visits. China remains one of the countries contributing the most foreign tourists, namely 467.8 thousand visits from January until August 2023. The number of  Chinese foreign tourist visits has increased sixfold compared to 2022. However, they have not returned to normal numbers because they are only a third of the total visits before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Moreover, Ambassador Djauhari also pointed out that in the trade sector, based on Chinese Customs and Excise data, 5 years ago Indonesia's trade volume reached US$ 78 billion. But in 2022, it reached US$150 billion. Meanwhile, Chinese investment in Indonesia is also increasing.  He further said that in 2018, Chinese investment in Indonesia reached US$ 2.1 billion  and in 2022, it had increased to US$ 8.2 billion.

The Ambassador further confirmed the contribution of the volume of Indonesia-China trade and investment from China to Indonesia, increased significantly and contributed to the achievements of Indonesia's economic diplomacy.  He also targets to keep improving Indonesia-China economic relations through second bilateral negotiations. Ambassador Djauhari  believes that although global economic conditions have not fully recovered after the pandemic,  an increase in trade volume between Indonesia and China can be achieved.