‘Dhaka, Jakarta need to think beyond box’

UNB, Dhaka :
Indonesian Ambassador in Dhaka Iwan Wiranata Atmadja on Tuesday said Bangladesh and Indonesia need to think of ‘beyond the box’ instead of concentrating only on ‘traditional’ trade issues to build a stronger partnership between the two countries in the coming days.
“…but we’ve to think (of) beyond the box. We’ve to think about how to build the partnership in many other areas…so this is how we can develop our cooperation and build (a) better partnership,” said the envoy.
The Indonesian diplomat made the remark while addressing a country lecture programme, titled ‘Indonesia-Bangladesh: Forging Ahead to the Future’, arranged by Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) at its auditorium.
BIISS Director General (DG) Maj Gen SM Shafiuddin Ahmed, former ambassadors, scholars and policymakers took part in the discussion chaired by BIISS Chairman Munshi Faiz Ahmad.
The Indonesian diplomat explained further saying his country will have difficulties in importing products from Bangladesh as both the countries produce similar products in many cases.
“Our products are quite the same. You produce cheap pharmaceutical products, we do. You produce garment, we do. You produce agriculture products, we do. …that’s why if you base only on these,
the barriers (to boost bilateral trade) are so much,” Atmadja said.
Recently, the bilateral trade between Indonesia and Bangladesh reached $ 1.40 billion dollars showing an increase of over 32 percent over the previous year and the volume is expected to reach $ 2 billion by 2017.
Admitting that the existence of trade imbalance between the two nations, the diplomat said both sides need to explore new areas of cooperation. “Without knowing each other well, it’s very difficult to judge what will be our engagement.”
On long-pending Dhaka-Jakarta direct flight, the envoy said the process of introducing direct flights linking Dhaka is underway, and hoped for a positive outcome by this year.
Responding to visa issue, Atmadja said the visa process for Bangladeshis willing to visit Indonesia has been widely simplified. “There’s no difficulty in obtaining visa now.”
Explaining Indonesia’s position on launching joint ventures, he said they have started seeking the opportunity to bring in some big companies from Bangladesh to Indonesia for joint ventures.
The envoy said both countries have common views on many regional and international interests such as environment, women empowerment, health, food and energy sustainability, poverty and disaster management, global peace and security.