Biz Talk Interview – Mari Elka Pangestu, Indonesian Minister of Trade

By Gary Bowerman in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday, 26 October 2008  

BizChinaUpdate,  Interviews, BizTalk Interviews 

Mari Elka Pangestu has been Indonesia’s Minister of Trade since October 2004. She gained Bachelor and Master of Economics degrees at the Australian National University in Canberra, followed by a Ph.D in International Trade and Finance at the University of California, Davis. She spoke to BizChinaUpdate at the opening of the 2008 Trade Expo Indonesia exhibition in Jakarta, before heading to Beijing to attend the Asia-Europe leaders summit. 

Can you summarise Indonesia’s trade relationship with China, and how do you see it developing? 

M.P.: Indonesia and China agreed a strategic partnership between the two nations, with a target for total trade of USD20 bn by the end of 2008, and USD30 bn by 2010. At the moment, there are differing numbers on each side. China says the balance on trade between the two nations is USD20 bn, our figures say it is between USD16-17 bn. So, from the Chinese figures, we have already surpassed the 2008 bilateral target. 

Most of our exports to China are in natural resources, such as gas, coal, oil, rubber, minerals and palm oil, and we import machinery and manufacturing products. We’d like to rebalance in future, and export more processed foods and manufactured goods to China.  

As manufacturing costs rise in China, what are the opportunities for Indonesian manufacturers? 

M.P.: Footwear is definitely an opportunity that we see coming back. Before the 1997 Asian Crisis, Indonesia was ahead of Vietnam and just behind China in footwear manufacturing, before a lot of footwear brands left for China. Toys is another area; China has suffered some quality and safety issues, and we are seeing a lot of interest from foreign brands. We’re also hopeful for our garments industries, and electronics – although, unfortunately, we’ve not seen the interest we would like coming back yet. It’s an industry that needs a fast turnaround, so we need to improve our roads, ports and infrastructure. 

In the automotive sector, we are quite competitive on parts and family cars, which we are already exporting. ASEAN and China will create more trade in components and specialised multi-purpose vehicles, which Toyota is already producing here. China will increasingly get into the game, and there are two Chinese automakers that have set up joint ventures in Indonesia, as well as motorcycle manufacturers. 

China has suffered damaging domestic and overseas product quality scandals. How will Indonesia try to avoid similar problems? 

M.P.: We must try to ensure that our manufacturers understand the regulations at home and abroad. To do this, we will improve testing, certification and enforcement in the market. For example, we are creating a taskforce to increase supervision of food and beverage products, both for domestic and overseas consumption. It’s also important to educate consumers and make sure they know what signs to look out for. The recent melamine scandal in Chinese dairy products has definitely had an effect, it has made consumers much more aware. 

A buzz phrase at the 2008 Trade Expo Indonesia is “market diversification.” Why is this so important? 

M.P.: Indonesia is relatively well insulated from the global slowdown, as exports account for only around 20 per cent of our total GDP. But, our traditional export markets are the United States, Europe and Japan, so we must find new ways to remain competitive in a global age. This means reaching out to new export markets. 

China and Korea are both growing export markets for Indonesia, and are becoming more important to our economy. Now, our exporters need to explore the Middle East, Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America. We’ve seen growth in markets like Nigeria, South Africa and Brazil – and are focusing on the Central Asian republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, such as Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. These are resource-rich countries with a lot of purchasing power. We see opportunities to increase our exports of furniture, household accessories, consumer products and automotive parts to those nations. 

You have said that tourism is a potential growth sector for Indonesia. How will you promote Indonesia as a tourism destination in China? 

M.P.: We have identified China, India and Russia as high-growth tourism arrival markets for Indonesia, as all three countries have definable and growing middle classes that increasingly wish to travel. We feel there will be a slowdown for tourism from Europe, the United States and Japan next year. However, having our country removed from the U.S. travel warning was very important for showing Indonesia as a tourism destination. 

We have direct flights from China with Garuda, and have had visa-on-arrival for two years now. Chinese travellers need to have a visa before they leave the country, and we’ve been trying to work around that. Singapore has a good system whereby Chinese travellers can use a credit card to go there, and we are seeing if we can become involved in some way. 

We need to be more aggressive on tourism and promotional tours in China. We’ll be trying harder to raise our profile to Chinese tourists, especially leading up to the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. We are currently in the process of finalising the design for our Expo pavilion.