President Joko Widodo Expects Trade With Spain To Increase

Presiden Joko Widodo (kanan) dan Ibu Negara Iriana Joko Widodo (kiri) saat melambaikan tangan sebelum masuk ke pesawat kepresidenan di Pangkalan Udara TNI AU Halim Perdanakusuma, Jakarta. (ANTARA FOTO/Widodo S. Jusuf/Dok).

For its part, I want support from His Excellency to expedite the conclusion of IUE CEPA negotiations.

Jakarta (Antara Megapolitan-Bogor) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has expressed the hope that trade relations between Indonesia and Spain will increase following his meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg on Friday.

"I want to stress the importance of increasing the trade value which shows a negative trend of 5.76 percent in each of the past five years," the Press, Media and Information Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat quoted the president as saying in a press statement released on Friday.

The president said trade between Indonesia and EU countries including Spain will increase when the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) takes effect.

"For its part, I want support from His Excellency to expedite the conclusion of IUE CEPA negotiations," he told the Spanish prime minister.

At the meeting the two leaders also discussed the negative campaign against the Indonesian palm oil in the European market.

He expressed the hope that Spain can treat the Indonesian palm oil product fairly in the same way as it realizes the standardization of Indonesian wood and wood products through the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).

During the meeting, the president also praised the Airbus Defence and Space for its decision to designate the West Java provincial capital of Bandung as its assembling hub for the Asia-Pacific market.

The decision confirmed the commitment of Spain as Indonesia's important partner in strategic industry, he said. (Ant).