PRESIDENT RECEIVES CHINESE TRADE MINISTER

Jakarta, April 5 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received visiting Chinese Trade Minister Cheng Deming at his office here on Monday.

The Chinese trade minister arrived in Jakarta on Friday, April 2, 2010 for a series of meetings with his Indonesian counterpart Mari Elka Pangestu and a number of other parties.

Cheng was also paving the way for a visit to Indonesia by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao later this month.

On Saturday, April 3, 2010, the Indonesian and Chinese trade ministers chaired the 10th meeting of the Indonesia-China Joint Commission in Yogyakarta.

An agreement to step up sustainable bilateral trade and mantain bilateral trade balance between the two countries was reached at the Indonesia-China Joint Commission meeting in Yogyakarta.

If there was an imbalance in the bilateral trade, the party which experienced a trade surplus should take action to encourage further imports and give the necessary support.

At the meeting, the Chinese government promised to encourage its private companies to increase their imports from Indonesia to maintain trade between the two countries.

In addition, the Chinese government would also step up investment by its private companies in Indonesia by cooperating in a joint investment promotion.

Meanwhile, Mari Elka Pangestu said the performance of Indonesian exports to China in the first two months of this year rose by 138 percent while imports from China in the same period also rose by 50 percent.

The Indonesian trade minister expressed optimism that exports from Indonesia to China in 2010 would grow nine to 10 percent from their level in 2009.