Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) – Finnish European Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Alexander Stubb is visiting Jakarta as Finland seeks to strengthen its economic partnership with Indonesia, with a focus on renewable energy cooperation. Stubb met with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa on Tuesday and with Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik later in the same day. He is slated to meet Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan and Agriculture Minister Suswono. Stubb, who will be in Jakarta until Thursday, is accompanied by 24 Finnish business representatives from the energy, information technology, communication, forestry, industry and manufacturing sectors. “Indonesia and Finland have agreed in the meeting [between Marty and Stubb] to encourage efforts to enhance our trade and investment ties, as well as energy partnership,” the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said in a press statement. “The two ministers also underlined the importance of cooperation in the field of renewable energy within the framework of Energy and Environment Partnership,” it added. Stubb said in a joint press conference that Finland was a “very trade-dependent” country and it considered Indonesia as a major economic player with which it aimed to boost trade and investment partnerships. “We firmly believe that Indonesia is one of the main players, not only because it is the world's fourth-most populous nation and it has strong economic growth; but also because it is in the G-20,” he said. Data from the Indonesian Trade Ministry shows that two-way trade volume between both countries increased to a total of US$561.75 million in the January-October 2011 period, from $401.49 million during the same period in 2010. Despite still suffering from a trade deficit, the figure has been getting smaller each year. “The trade volume is expected to continue to increase in 2012, along with Finland's improving trade relations after the 2008 global economic crisis,” the Foreign Ministry said. It also said that Marty had stressed in the meeting with Stubb an offer to Finland to participate in Indonesia's Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI), which divides the archipelago into six location- and specialty-based economic corridors. Marty said he and Stubb had also discussed regional issues in ASEAN, in regards to Indonesia's chairing of the organization last year and plans for 2012, and in Europe, concerning the ongoing debt crisis, among other things. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/ycsqN Tags: Energy, Finland, Indonesia, Renewables Section: East Asia, Europe, Going Green
