TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan in an official statement on Wednesday claimed that China is committed to increasing its imports of Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) up to one million tons. This was stated in the bilateral meeting between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Beijing.

“Thank you, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang for the support and commitment to import Indonesian palm oil,” the coordinating minister wrote in a statement on July 27. “We are hopeful for China to continue to increase palm oil trade with Indonesia.”

Luhut asserted that China’s pledge towards additional imports will increase the quantity of Indonesian CPO export and is hoped to increase the prices of palm oil fresh fruit bunches (FFB) at the farmers' level.

He also added that the Indonesian government is committing to improving the welfare of 16 million palm oil farmers in Indonesia.

Apart from the CPO trade, the bilateral meeting between China and Indonesia also discussed other cooperations in a multitude of sectors such as investment, infrastructure, finance, funding, and maritime.

The meeting also talked about the completion of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway mega-project, which according to government sources will be trialed by the end of 2022.

FRANSISCA CHRISTY ROSANA

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