[Kabar-indonesia] RI-Turkey trade to reach US$2b in 2-3 years - Envoy

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, June 24, 2006

Turkish envoy working to double trade within three years

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It was like a dream come true for Aydin Evirgen when in December last year he 
was posted to Indonesia as his country's ambassador.

"I went to Indonesia as a tourist once, and quickly fell in love with this 
beautiful country. Ever since then I dreamed of becoming Turkey's representative 
here," the former counselor at the Turkish Embassy in Tokyo told The Jakarta 
Post at his office in South Jakarta early this week.

At first, Evirgen, who is married with one child, expected that as links 
between Indonesia and Turkey in terms of trade and culture were still minimal, he 
would not be very busy in Jakarta.

But he soon discovered enormous tasks were awaiting him.

Evirgen, who was born in Artuin, Turkey, in 1952, said that he discovered 
there was a huge potential for mutually beneficial exchanges between Turkey and 
Indonesia but stressed that the potential had not been fully explored.

"Although many Turkish people recognize Indonesia as a Muslim country and a 
friend, they don't know much more than that because contacts are still very 
limited. So, I have to work on many things to improve trade, social, and cultural 
contacts," he said.

Although the trade volume between Turkey and Indonesia has increased in the 
last five years, bilateral trade reached only US$825 million in 2005, up from 
$262 million in 2000.

In addition, Indonesians know little about Turkey, its people and their 
culture, let alone its well-known products and industries.

Few know that Turkey was the world's largest exporter of wheat flour in 2005, 
with an export volume of 2.04 million tons, surpassing exports of the 25 
European Union countries.

"I have been instructed to achieve the psychological level of $1 billion in 
bilateral trade this year, and reach $2 billion in two to three years time," 
Evirgen said.

With this target in mind, he quickly arranged activities to boost trade and 
business contacts between businesspeople from both countries.

Evirgen and his staff arranged for representatives of 15 Indonesian food 
producing companies to travel to Turkey last month to look into the possibility of 
importing wheat flour and grain milling machinery while the Turkish Embassy 
also invited several businesspeople here to see if they could invest in 
Indonesia.

Turkish companies also took part in the business exhibition arranged during 
last's year Developing Eight (D-8) summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, and during a 
textile exhibition in Bandung last week.

Evirgen said that the embassy was planning many more business trips and 
exhibitions for both Indonesia and Turkey this year, and was reviving the existing 
business council so that businesspeople from the two countries could closely 
discuss business opportunities.

He explained that Turkish businesspeople had pinpointed several sectors, such 
as food products, textiles, machinery and defense equipment as areas in which 
businesspeople from Indonesia and Turkey could launch business ventures 
together.

"So, not only are we aiming at enhancing trade between the two countries but 
also we are trying to increase Turkey's level of investment here. In the 
textile sector, for instance, Indonesia can take advantage of Turkey's high quality 
textile machinery," Evirgen said.

Indonesia's textile industry is considered a sunset industry as due to the 
refusal of most banks to lend fresh funds, textile companies are unable to 
replace outdated machinery, let alone expand their current capacity.

Evirgen, who studied international relations, graduating from Ankara 
University in 1974, began his first foreign posting at the Turkish Consulate in 
Melbourne, Australia in 1981.

Turkey's export and import banks have expressed the willingness to provide 
Indonesian businesspeople with credit exports while several Turkish 
businesspeople in the textile and food industries had come here to look into the 
possibilities of opening several factories in the country, said Evirgen.

He added that beside food and textiles, the defense sector was one of the 
most promising areas in which businesspeople from both countries could work 
together, and several meetings had been conducted between companies from both sides.

Beside business relations, the embassy is now also working on introducing 
Turkish culture and education to the Indonesian public.

"We are going to hold an exhibition on Turkish culture here in Jakarta some 
time in November. We hope by displaying our cultural and social sides 
Indonesians will get to know us better, hence enhancing our ties," Evirgen said.

He said he would propose that the Turkish government increase the current 
number of scholarships for Indonesians, which is only five at present, as he saw 
many students interested in studying in Turkey. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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