Indonesia Offers Cooperation With IORA Member States

The Indonesian government decided to use the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit as an opportunity to broaden its partnership in the industrial sector by offering several sectors for investment to IORA member states.

Some of the sectors being offered include the shipping industry and its equipment, seafood processing, automotive components, petro chemical and coal gasification, and downstream agriculture products.

“The abovemetioned sectors are included in export-oriented labour-intensive industries and import substitution,” said Industrial Minister Airlangga Hartanto on Monday, March 6, 2017.

The partnership will allow Indonesia to access IORA members states market, which mostly consists of non-traditional markets. “The partnership can be done through a bilateral supply chain cooperation,” Airlangga said.

Airlangga added that other efforts that need to be done are initiating business matching with IORA member states, and optimizing the role of Indonesian Embassies in promoting the domestic industrial ability and its market potential.

“Improving partnership as in industrial capacity development training, has been conducted in cooperation with Mozambique and Seychelles at the small and middle-sized industry,” Airlangga said.

Airlangga asserted IORA member states present highly prospective economic potential, including its large market of 2.7 billion population, and the fact that around 70 percent of the world’s trade passes through the region.

The IORA also stores 55 percent of the global oil reserve and 40 percent of the global gas reserve. IORA member states also produce on-third of the world’s total tuna production.