Serbian Foreign Minister Is in Jakarta to Discuss Bilateral Trade

TheIndonesia.id - The Indonesian and Serbian governments have revealed plan to strengthen bilateral trade during the visit of Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selakovic to Jakarta.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi confirmed that her meeting with Minister Selankovic in Jakarta on Monday, May 23, focused on strengthening the two countries’ bilateral ties on different sectors, including trade and food security.

“On food security cooperation, we have shared concerns on impacts of the war in Ukraine to food security, in particular, the rise of food prices. To this end, we agreed to enhance trade cooperation in food/agricultural commodities particularly wheat,” Marsudi said after the meeting.

State-owned company PT Berdikari and its Serbian business counterpart have reportedly agreed to facilitate Serbian wheat exports to Indonesia, and Selankovic was also planned to be present at a meeting with the Indonesian company to discuss the plan.

Marsudi also reported that in 2021, the bilateral trade reached US$26.8 million, and the Minister said the Indonesian government appreciated Serbia’s willingness to increase market share for Indonesia’s palm oil exports to 30 percent.

She also noted that Indonesia’s outbound investments in Serbia, which is valued more than US$11 million, continues to expand and even further penetrating to the European Union market, including instant noodle production and distribution as well as mushroom cultivation plantation.

It was also revealed that Serbia is interested in employing more Indonesian workers in a number of different sectors, such as constructions, hotelier, food, and beverage sectors.

“I expressed hope for Serbia’s support to ensure better protection and legal certainty for Indonesian migrant workers,” Marsudi said.

“We agreed that there is much room to improve our two-way trade and investment relations. We also view the need to intensify business-to-business contacts, including through our Chambers of Commerce.”