Iran, Indonesia to boost economic ties

Octavino Alimudin, Ambassador of Indonesia to Iran, made the remarks at a session held in Yazd Chamber of Commerce with industrial activists of the central Iranian province in attendance.

"Tehran and Jakarta trade exchanges stood at 338 million dollars in 2016 and it will continue growing to reach 600 million dollars in 2017,” he reiterated.

The official went on to underline that Iran and Indonesia trade exchanges experienced 28 percent growth in 2016 as compared to the earlier year.

Noting that banking restrictions were hindering reinvigoration of relations, Alimudin stressed the need for closer cooperation between central banks of the two countries.

"Dates, dairy products, coffee, agricultural products and carpets, along with energy, oil and mines as well as textiles, IT and ICT are capacities held by Iran,” noted the official saying recent establishment of Tehran-Bali flight has also helped elevation of the two countries' cooperation in tourism sector.

Later into his remarks, ambassador of Indonesia called for closer relations between traders and industrialists of the two sides; "presently, exports of Iranian crude to Indonesia are carried out through a third-party bank while imports are conducted directly.”

Octavino Alimudin also invited businessmen of Yazd to participate in various tourism and nanotechnology expositions held in Indonesia as well as to make visits to local factories.

The Indonesian ambassador suggested signing a sisterhood agreement between Yazd and Jakarta in a bid to pave the path for increasing trade turnover between Iran and Indonesia.