Indonesia plans to collaborate with Kerala in trade, healthcare, tourism and education

The Dollar Business Bureau

A seven-member Indonesian team led by Consul General Saut Siringoringo is in Kerala, looking to explore the possibility of collaborating with the Kerala government in trade, healthcare, tourism and education.

The team will also interact with the Kerala chapter of CII and with the Trivandrum Chamber of Commerce (TCCI).

The Indonesian team has another agenda- to attract Kerala businesses, investors, traders and buyers to attend the 32nd edition of the four-day Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) being organised by the Indonesia Ministry of Trade in ICE-BSD City - Banten from October 11. In the previous edition of TEI, around 150 buyers from Kerala, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat had clocked the maximum transactions. Indian buyers topped the list and Indonesia gained around $83 million from India alone with the total transactions at the expo being valued at $1.07 billion. 

Saut Siringoringo was hopeful that this year too, the turnout from India will be good. Speaking to the media, he said the 2017 TEI edition may attract transactions around $1.1 billion. CII Kerala and TCCI have agreed to send a delegation to explore new alliances. 

With the Indian government looking to open up tier-II cities on the air routes through schemes like UDAN, countries like Indonesia are hopeful of an increase in tie-ups in tourism. Indonesia had introduced a daily flight from Mumbai to Bali in 2016 and Indonesia became a favourite destination for many Indians. Projecting Indonesia as a safe and secure destination, the Consul General was optimistic that this year Indonesia would attract around 4.6 lakh Indian tourists from 3.76 lakh seen in 2016.