NHT Report
ISLAMABAD, December 26: Ambassador ofthe Republic of Indonesia H.E Adam M. Tugio has said that Indonesia is keen to enhance cooperation with Pakistan in all possible spheres including Trade, commercial, politics and security, as well as socio-cultural areas. He mentioned that Indonesia can serve as gateway for Pakistani exports like textile, garment and pharmaceutical goods to wider areas in Southeast Asia. ASEAN is a region of 900 million population that means there is a huge potential for Pakistan to increase the existing trade level with ASEAN states. Indonesia encourages the people of Pakistan to visit and explore the beauty and unique culture of Indonesia.
“You will be amazed to find that in Indonesia you can easily find the favorite cousin of Pakistani cuisines such as Biryani, Pasandday and Pakauray. We have 54 types of Chicken Tikkas to attract food lover Pakistanis”, added Ambassador Tugio.
Ambassador Tugio was keynote speaker at English Speaking Union Islamabad where he covered, in his address, the whole gambit of bilateral relations and prospects of increasing the present level of cooperation. Khalid Malik, President ESU introduced the Ambassador Tugio to the participants who hailed from different walks of life including former ambassadors, bureaucrats and media.
Mr. Tugio said “ASEAN is highly promising region and more efforts need to be done to attract proper attention from Pakistan. The volume of total Pakistani trade with all ASEAN countries is approximately 7 Billion Dollar while the trade of ASEAN with China closes to 700 Billion Dollars. It means Pakistani trade is only 1%.”
“900 million population of ASEAN countries consists of more than 40% Muslims. This factor is also a qualification to increase the ties. Twenty percent is Buddhist that is again a commonality if we see Buddhist heritage of Pakistan. It is great thing for Buddhists that the remains of their Lord Siddhartha (Siddhartha Gautama. c. 563 BCE or 480 BCE) were found in Taxila. The Buddhists are satisfied that their heritage has been well preserved in Pakistan. This common factor can be exploited to expand the relations with Buddhist world. Pakistani IT experts can research on the temple of Lord Siddhartha and prepare a documentary on that with the visuals. In Thailand, for instance, Taxila and its heritage is very popular. Pakistan has a huge amount of talented IT students and web developing experts and they can be invited to recreate Taxila in 3D or Virtual reality formats. Such approach will help the religious tourists to relate with the ancient holy sites”, Ambassador presented valuable suggestions.
Mr. Adam M. Tugio, while covering bilateral cooperation and future prospects, said ” Both countries signed PTA in 2013 and since then our mutual trade is increased from 1.3 to 2.5 Billion Dollars annually. We are looking forward for more increase trade by diversifying traded goods and by focusing on complementary products.
Pakistan has big garments industry while Indonesia produces the raw materials for this industry such as cotton, polyester, fiber etc. Pakistan can import raw materials from Indonesia, and both countries can work on joint ventures as well to expand export of garment productions world wide. Pharmaceutical is another sector for bilateral cooperation that have potential for mutually beneficial cooperation”.
Ambassador noted that both countries can work together on issues of shared concern at multilateral level, such as meeting the SDGs, protection of human rights, and women empowerment etc. Both are biggest countries in Muslim world. Both are democratic states. We have many commonalities in culture as well that can contribute to increase the friendly bonds between two nations.
“Indonesia is offering 400 scholarships to 52 developing countries and this year the biggest portion went to Pakistani students. They can build the bridges and enhance cultural cooperation. Pakistanis can find their favorite food in our country including chicken tikkas, biryani, pasandday”.Mr. Tugio continued.
He shared to some questions from the participants that ” Indonesia is one Trillion Dollar economy. We are working upon establishing a modern Indonesia. And we are seeking cooperation from all sides.”
To a question about China-USA tussle in the region especially in Indian Ocean, the Ambassador replied that ” Both are important for Indonesia. USA is the biggest investor in Indonesia while China is the biggest trade partner. ASEAN countries are part of Chinese BRI project, especially in building and improving connectivity. Indonesia will continue working with both countries.”
Ambassador said that Indonesia has a structured defence cooperation with all three wings of Pakistani military.
Regarding ASEAN, Ambassador Tugio noted that there are many think tanks in Islamabad but no one is working upon East Asia or ASEAN despite its huge economic potentials. Government of Pakistan evolved a policy of looking towards east few years ago. East Asia is actually ASEAN plus 5 dialogue partners that just concluded the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). It is 30% population of the world with 5 % annual growth rate. Pakistan is supposed to benefit from this market of a lot of potential.-PR
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