Business news

MINSK, 26 June (BelTA) – Belarus has plans to increase machinery exports to Indonesia and to create new cooperative relationships with Indonesian companies, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Indonesia Valery Kolesnik said in an interview to the Market Conditions Magazine, BelTA learned from the website of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Belarusian manufacturers can meet the needs of Indonesia’s mining industry. Since 2012 nine BelAZ mining trucks with the lifting capacity of 45 tonnes have been operated in Indonesia’s province of East Kalimantan. Some 40 mining trucks with the lifting capacity of 110 tonnes were shipped to the province of South Sumatra in 2016-2017 for one of Indonesia’s largest coal mining companies PT Bukit Asam. “That marked an important milestone in the Belarus-Indonesia cooperation in the mining industry. I would like to emphasize that the BelAZ mining trucks with the lifting capacity of 110 tonnes were ahead of competitors in terms of their technical and economic features. Great cooperation experience and active work of BelAZ with the regional trading house paved way for the conclusion and delivery in 2018 of a new contract to ship seven mining trucks with the lifting capacity of 130 tonnes. This truck model is absolutely new for Indonesia, but it has good marketing prospects in other countries of Southeast Asia. We are also promoting BelAZ mining trucks to be used at a nickel field on the island of Sulawesi,” Valery Kolesnik said.

Apart from that, Belarus seeks to promote its farm machines in Indonesia. Products of the Belarusian defense industry are also of great interest to Indonesia.

Belarus is ready to expand cooperative relations in the manufacturing industry. The parties are now considering the establishment of a joint outsourcing contractor company to provide maintenance services to the mining companies that operate BelAZ machinery.

“It should be taken into consideration that Belarus has already opened an assembly plant for MAZ vehicles in Vietnam that has a free trade agreement with the EAEU. Cambodia has an experience of assembling Belarusian tractors. If these assembly facilities reach the necessary localization level, and such work is in progress, they will be able to supply their products to all ten ASEAN member states, including Indonesia, without obstructions or customs duties,” Valery Kolesnik said.

Belarus and Indonesia have great prospects in the services sector and agriculture. The State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus and the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of Indonesia are now getting ready to launch a contest of joint projects in priority areas of cooperation. Minsk will be the venue for the second session of the joint working group on science, technology and higher education in H2.

Indonesia became the fourth most important market for Belarusian potassium chloride after China, Brazil and India. The share of the domestic potassium chloride in the aggregate import of the country is estimated at about 20%. “A significant increase in supplies of Belarusian potassium fertilizers to Indonesia over the last five years is attributed to the agreements concluded by the leaders of the two countries. This is Belarus’ contribution to Indonesia’s strategic plan to increase manufacture and export of agricultural products,” Valery Kolesnik noted.

Belarus has made some progress in advancing hi-tech medical products on the Indonesian market. For example, domestic enterprises have already made sample shipments of X-ray equipment and medical furniture. The healthcare ministries of the two countries are considering a possibility to sign a cooperation agreement.

Belarus and Indonesia will mark the 25^th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations in June. The two countries have signed 25 agreements across major areas of cooperation. The bilateral trade increased from $1.8 million in 1995 up to $158.3 million in 2017.