Indonesia envoy hails ‘solid’ Amman-Jakarta ties

AMMAN — Indonesian Ambassador to Jordan Andy Rachmianto on Tuesday said that the Jordanian-Indonesian diplomatic relations are "strong" and "solid", noting that the two countries next year will be celebrating their 70-year anniversary of relations.

During a press conference on the occasion of Indonesia's national day, the envoy said that Amman-Jakarta trade volume reached $300 million at the end of 2018.

Indonesia is the 20th largest trading partner of Jordan, he added, highlighting that Indonesia is working towards achieving $500 million in trade volume by 2020, as Jordan's investment in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-populated nation, reached some $3.84 million in the first half of this year.

Jordan is the fourth largest investor after the UAE, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Rachmianto said, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Touching on tourism, the diplomat said that the number of Indonesians who visited Jordan stood at 45,000 in 2018, which makes Indonesia the fifth largest tourist group after American, British, Turkish and German tourists, in comparison to 5,700 Jordanian tourists to Indonesia.

He also expressed his country's support to Jordan’s pivotal role under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah in backing the Palestinian cause and the Hashemite Custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, as well as in representing the true image of Islam to the world.

Reiterating Jakarta's support to the Palestinian cause, the envoy said: "Our solid and unwavering support to Palestine will continue until they achieve their independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

"Since the last decade, Indonesia has granted some $12 million to 2,000 Palestinian officials and non-officials through capacity-building programmes," he said, adding that "to help generating their economies, the Indonesian government recently imposed a zero-tariff policy for olive oil and dates imported from Palestine."

Talks also went over Indonesia’s achievements in various fields, with expectations that the country will be the fourth largest economy by 2050, after China, India and the US.

The envoy also highlighted his country's successful presidential election with the participation of 180 million voters, noting that "Indonesia has become the third largest democratic country, with strong political stability."

Meanwhile, board members of the Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI) discussed the prospects of bolstering the two countries' economic ties with an Indonesian economic delegation, headed by President of the Indonesian-Jordanian Business Council Mayra Andrea.

The Jordanian side affirmed that the Kingdom is seeking to increase Jordanian exports worldwide, mainly to Indonesia, to bolster the national economy, according to an ACI statement.

Andrea, for her part, invited the chamber to take part in the Indonesia-based trade exhibition, scheduled to be held during this year, to showcase Jordanian products; mainly olive oil, dates and Dead Sea products.