VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Ambassador of India to Indonesia, Pradeep Kumar Rawat was very optimistic about trade in the palm oil industry despite the growing backlash the industry faces. It was stated by Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Pradeep Kumar Rawat in a special interview at Voice of Indonesia’s studio in Jakarta, Friday (24/01). During the interview, the ambassador talked about the close historical relationship between India and Indonesia and some of the potentials and challenges the two countries face, especially in the technology sector and the palm oil industry. Pradeep Kumar Rawat said that the leaders of both countries are placing significant emphasis on the relationship between the two countries. He also told that there are a lot of commonalities between India and Indonesia in the technology sector and stressed the importance of having technological cooperation.

"I would say the prospect is very good. India is already the largest importer of palm oil from Indonesia. And the trade is of close to US$5 billion. So, it's this large, I would say large amount and it's a large part of a trade and certainly, as the Indian economy grows, as our population grows, because we are still a growing population, the need for edible oil will certainly be large. The importance of India and Indonesia [technological] cooperation is that given the size and the diversity of our countries, our technology can be instrumental in providing better services and better connectivity," said Ambassador Pradeep Kumar Rawat.

Indonesia and India are aiming to reach a total of US$ 50 billion in trade cooperation by 2025. The current trades amount to only US$ 21 billion, predominantly arising through the trade of palm oil and coal. Ambassador Rawat said if the two countries can further diversify trade, considering the sizes of the Indian and Indonesian economy, the target of US$ 50 billion can even be called conservative. Ambassador Rawat was very optimistic about reaching this target considering that the size of India’s and Indonesia’s economy put together amounts to almost US$ 4 trillion. (VOI/SAYEE SHREE L.R/AHM)