August 26, 2025 | 01:43 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are aiming to strengthen their trade ties and boost economic growth. In the first half of 2025, total trade between the two countries reached US$3.2 billion, with Indonesia's exports accounting for US$1.7 billion and imports at US$1.5 billion.
Indonesian Trade Minister Budi Santoso, also known as Busan, emphasized the importance of this partnership, noting that in 2024, Saudi Arabia was the 18th largest destination for Indonesian exports and the 12th largest source of imports.
"Indonesia has trade representatives in Saudi Arabia who can facilitate relations between Saudi Arabian and Indonesian business players," he said in a statement on Monday, August 25, 2025.
Throughout 2024, the total trade between the two countries reached US$6.6 billion. Indonesia's exports were recorded at US$2.6 billion, while its imports were at US$4.4 billion.
Indonesia's main exports to Saudi Arabia include motor vehicles, palm oil, light vessels, sauces and processed products, and iron pipes. Meanwhile, imports from Saudi Arabia include crude petroleum oil, non-crude petroleum oil, petroleum gas, cyclical alcohols, and sulfur.
In a virtual meeting on Thursday, August 21, 2025, Saudi Arabia's Trade Minister, Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, expressed a desire to enhance trade cooperation and explore new opportunities with Indonesia. He noted that there are many potential products, goods, and services that can still be developed in trade. Therefore, Majid proposed that Indonesia and Saudi Arabia exchange information to initiate efforts to boost trade cooperation.
In response, Busan stated that there is still room to increase Indonesia's trade figures with Saudi Arabia. He expressed hope that this trade growth could be realized in the future. "I appreciate Saudi Arabia's desire to explore potential cooperation in order to enhance the performance of trade between the two countries," he said.
Busan mentioned several steps that can be taken to strengthen this cooperation, including business delegation visits and participation in trade exhibitions.
"There are many ways to explore to strengthen trade relations, one of which is through business delegation visits, as Indonesia has done some time ago," Busan added.
The two trade ministers plan to meet again on the sidelines of the upcoming G20 Ministerial Meeting in October 2025. At that meeting, they will delve deeper into plans to enhance trade cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
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