Indonesia, Myanmar To Increase Trade In 2016

NUSA DUA (Bali) June 13 (Bernama) -- The Indonesia and Myanmar governments have agreed to increase trade value to US$1 billion in 2016, the Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said.

"We have set ourselves the target of achieving a trade value of US$1 billion in 2016," Marty said after a bilateral meeting with his Myanmar's counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin here Wednesday, Indonesian news agency ANTARA reported.

During the Indonesia-Myanmar joint commission meeting, Marty said that apart from increasing trade value, the two countries have also agreed to step up investment value and economic cooperation.

He said Indonesia is optimistic about stepping up economic cooperation with the former military junta as Myanmar had undergone a positive transformation to encourage greater economic opportunities between both countries.

Bilateral trade between Indonesia and Myanmar in 2012 reached US$465 million, up 7.98 percent from US$430.7 million in the previous year.

While investment value in 2012 was US$241.5 million, it is expected to increase this year in line with reformation in Myanmar.

On his part, Myanmar's Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin said he had discussed improvement in bilateral, regional and international cooperation with Marty.

"We would like to improve cooperation in agriculture and technology in addition to addressing cross-country crime and human capacity development," he said.

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