YANGON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Bilateral trade between Myanmar and Indonesia is expected to reach 1 billion U.S. dollars this year, increasing by 31 percent as compared with last year, said Indonesian Ambassador Dr. Uza Fadri on Monday, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday.
Speaking at a Indonesia-Myanmar Business Matching held in Yangon on Monday, Fadri pledged to continue to encourage Indonesia's state-owned and private companies to invest in Myanmar.
Among countries of the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Indonesia is the largest and the most populous country. However, Myanmar's export volume to Indonesia is less than the import volume, said U Aung Soe, Director-General of Myanmar Trade Promotion Organization, stressing that Myanmar needs to increase its export volume.
He noted that the new government has emphasized on private sector development and encouraged public-private partnership, adding that Myanmar has also focused on the expansion and diversification of external trade by laying down new trade policy and practice after adoption of the market-oriented economic system.
Myanmar has carried out a number of trade reform measures by liberalizing, facilitating and streamlining restrictive measures which may hinder free and fair trade and also to be in compliance with obligation as member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), he added.
Businessmen from both countries participated in the Indonesia-Myanmar Business Matching.
According to statistics of the Ministry of Commerce, Myanmar-Indonesia trade showed 1.025 billion U.S. dollars in fiscal year 2017-18, up from 827 U.S. million dollars in 2016-17 and 741 million U.S. dollars in 2015-16.
