Undeterred by recent Chennai floods that caused panic among several corporate firms, the Indonesian government is putting its hand up and expressed keen interest in building bilateral relations with Tamil Nadu, especially in Chennai.
Saut Siringoringo, Consul-General of the Republic of Indonesia, Mumbai, leading a delegation to Chennai to hold talks with local business representatives, said Tamil Nadu is an important state for Indonesia for bilateral trade having common interests in several sectors. He spoke at length to S.V.KRISHNA CHAITANYA on various topics including beefing maritime security and the need for direct flights between India and Indo-nesia.
Q What is the purpose of your visit to Chennai?
The various incentives being accorded to prospective business community in Tamil Nadu bring us here. We are here to understand about the existing trade and Investment potentials which Indonesian business community is not aware off. So, we are here to learn and later share the information with our business entrepreneurs in Indonesia.
Q What kind of business potential you foresee in Tamil Nadu?
Acknowledging Tamil Nadu’s all round development, we do believe there is immense scope for Indonesia to strengthen bilateral relations with India by exploring business opportunities in Tamil Nadu. Indonesia and Chennai can look forward to have cooperation in various areas such as textiles, heavy commercial vehicles, automobile and auto components, manufacturing sector, where both are leaders.
Q Do you have short or long term plans to venture into any business tie-ups in Tamil Nadu?
The ‘Make in India’ move is considered as a breakthrough to open the country’s economy for investment. With this, we hope that Indonesian companies will invest in India especially in Tamil Nadu to strengthen ties between two countries. The business partnership in sectors such as financing, automotive and textiles must be increased and strengthened as both countries have such huge markets in those sectors.
Q Has the recent Chennai floods, which caused great damage to the business community, raise any concerns?
Chennai floods surely had an impact on business community. Brakes India from Chennai with its shipment to Indonesia couldn’t deliver the consignment on time as the company was forced to hold the shipments as many vessels sailing out of Chennai port stopped due to rough weather. Finally, the Chennai firm had to take the help of my office to explain the delay. However, the extreme event shouldn’t be a deterrent to explore the potential business opportunities.
Q With both Tamil Nadu and Indonesia having long coast lines, will maritime security and fisheries top the agenda?
Indonesia’s new President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo wants to tackle economic and security challenges, thereby embrace Indonesia’s geography as an asset. Maritime policy will be a top priority for our new government, which offers other countries opportunities for cooperation on maritime security.
Q What is your bilateral trade target for 2016?
Implementation of Asean-India Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA) has contributed greatly to increase the trade relations between the two nations. The bilateral trade between Indonesia and India has reached $16.20 billion in 2014 which has resulted to set a target of $25 billion for 2015. We look forward for a similar sort of trade in 2016 also. The leaders of the two nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesia President Joko Widodo had a meeting in Naypayidaw, Myanmar with discussions on various issues relating to developing stronger economic ties.
Q When will the direct flight operations to India commence?
Absence of direct flight from Indonesia to India since 1998 and vice versa has considerably reduced footfall. We are working on the modalities to commence the operation between Delhi, Mumbai and Jakarta.
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