Jakarta (VNA)🐷 – Vice Chairwoman of theIndonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) ShintaWidjaja Kamdani has said that Indonesia and Vietnam still hold muchcooperation potential.

Talking with the VietnamNews Agency (VNA)'s correspondent in Jakarta ahead of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s statevisit to Indonesia as guest of President Joko Widodo, Shinta said historically, the twocountries have very strong bilateral ties, with many operations, especiallyon the economic side. The Kadin, as an umbrella of businesses in Indonesia,has many times facilitated many businessforums as well as delegations coming from the two countries. Recallingthat two-way trade hit a record 11.5 billion USD in 2021, she said actually, thenumber is still very small compared to the potential that they could have. Sheexpressed belief that the target to reach 15 billion USD in 2028 could be taken. “There'sstill so much work to be done in order to optimise the number, especially as faras we're both part of ASEAN. And we've seen many opportunities from both sides,whether Vietnam to Indonesia, or Indonesia to Vietnam”, she said. “Thetwo leaders have very strong, concrete deliverables that they expect things,they both are action-oriented, so really want to get things done. And we'veseen certain sectors of cooperation, which is very good, because we're notgoing just a general trade, but also how to focus on certain sectors that wecan create partnership”. Accordingto the Chair of B20 Indonesia, Indonesia is a halal hub for the region and candefinitely expand to go into the Vietnamese market to meet demand there. Thetwo countries also hold potential of cooperation in fisheries and renewableenergy. “Weneed to push more into renewable and focus on really delivering on the Net Zerotarget that also globally, both countries needs to achieve. So the energytransition will encourage more renewable energy sector investment," she said. Shesaid the two countries’ leaders talked about infrastructure construction. Indonesiahas many State-owned enterprises while opportunities in Vietnam are aplenty. Indonesiais still expanding a lot on infrastructure and building up infrastructure all overthe country. Inher opinion, digital transformation undergone by the two countries also createsa lot of opportunities. Many of tech start-ups from both countries havebeen blooming. A lot of start-ups expand and invest in Vietnam, like GoJeck. “Bothnations also have similar demand in terms of consumer base. At the beginning,what's important is creating the awareness. This is why Kadin is facilitatingin setting up specific working groups, because we need the B2B to enhance more,not just the big corporation, not just the state owned enterprises, but alsocompanies who are wanting to expand. This is the easiest, because we areneighbors”, she said. Sheadded that Indonesia has learned from Vietnam how to bring in investors, sayingthat Vietnam has been very open in terms of leaving red carpet and Indonesia isdoing the same thing. Inconclusion, she said the two countries’ businesses have similarities and coulddevelop more by learning and capacity building from each other./.