TEMPO.CO, Den Haag - The Indonesian Embassy in Den Haag, Netherland, and state-owned airline Garuda Indonesia, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday, June 30, 2016 in a bid to boost the number of tourist visits to Indonesia.
The cooperation is expected to facilitate passengers to conduct business or work visits to Netherland.
"The MoU signing is a follow up to previous cooperation. New clauses were added, including those related to export facilities from Indonesia," Indonesian Ambassador to Netherland I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja said after the signing ceremony.
Puja hopes that the cooperation will support the economic diplomacy initiated by the Indonesian government. In addition Garuda is also expected to support the endeavor aimed at improving the people-to-people contact so that investors from both countries can strengthen their business relationship.
Garuda General Manager for Netherland Rizal Pahlevi promised that his company would provide discounts up to 25 percent.
"Garuda Indonesia will support Indonesian exports to Netherland by providing cost discounts up to 25 percent," Rizal said.
Azis Nurwahyudi, Indonesian Embassy's minister counsellor for information, social and cultural division, revealed that Indonesia-Netherland economic, business and investment relationships have been stable over the last five years. The relationships have been strengthened particularly after the signing of Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Partnership back in 2013. In addition, both countries had signed sectorial cooperation frameworks, such as MoU on Water in 2015 and MoU on Maritime Cooperation in 2016.
The good relationship between the two countries was maintained by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's visit to Indonesia in 2013, followed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's work visit to Netherland in April 2016.
In addition to cooperation with the Indonesian Embassy in Den Haag, Garuda Indonesia established cooperation with several organizations in Netherland, such as the Indonesia Netherland Youth Society (INYS), the Diaspora Indonesia and Dutch companies operating in Indonesia.
The Indonesia Foreign Ministry recorded that the Indonesia-Netherland trade value in 2015 stood at US$4.22 billion, with a surplus of US$2.66 billion recorded by Indonesia. In 2014, the figure reached US$4.89 billion with a surplus of US$3.07 billion on Indonesia's side.
Indonesia's main export commodities to Netherland are palm oil, copra, chemical products, animal feed, lead, biodiesel, iron and steel, leather shoes, television and rubber. Meanwhile Indonesia’s main import commodities from Netherland include processed oil, ships, milk, office supplies, whey, process food products, digital storage media, food-processing machine, air conditioner and vaccine.
The number of Indonesian nationals living in Netherland stood at 14,554 people in 2014. The number of Dutch tourists visiting Indonesia in 2015 reached 166,824 people. Furthermore, the number of Indonesian students pursuing their education in 30 universities or education institutions in Netherland stood at around 1,300 people.
NATALIA SANTI
