Indonesia, Russia bilateral trade expected to reach 3 bln USD

An official at Russian embassy in Indonesia said on Wednesday that two-way trade between Indonesia and Russia is expected to reach 3 billion U.S. dollars by the end of this year, higher than 2.26 billion U.S. dollars last year. "Indonesia and Russia saw 30 percent bilateral trade value growth in the first half this year compared to the same period last year. We are expecting the bilateral trade value figure to reach 3 billion this year," Russian embassy Charge d'Affair official Sergey Tolehenov said. Russian government is expecting to see further trade growth with Indonesia by organizing business forums attended by businessmen of the two countries and trade exhibitions, aimed at boosting up trade between the two countries, he said. He added that businessmen of both countries have insufficient information on potential business opportunities that can be worked on in the two countries. That is why Russian government is planning to bring more Russian businessmen to Indonesia and inviting Indonesian businessmen to Russia, he said. Indonesia exports crude palm oil, rubber, coffee, tea, pepper, footwear and tires to Russia. Gusmardi Bustami, international trade cooperation director general at the trade ministry, said that government planned to increase exports on those commodities to Russia in the next years. According to the data from Indonesia-Russia bilateral economic cooperation and business forum held last year, trade between the two countries is expected to reach 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.