Indonesian president urges greater ASEAN-Latin America cooperation

JAKARTA : Indonesia has called on businesses in ASEAN and Latin America to make use of existing frameworks of cooperation to boost trade and investment between the two regions.

The call was made by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the ASEAN-Latin Business Forum in Jakarta.

Captains of industries, businessmen and policy makers from Southeast Asia and Latin America gathered in Jakarta to bridge the distance that has prevented all but a trickle of business deals.

Trade between ASEAN and Latin America accounts for only 2.3 per cent of the US$2.5 trillion in trade created by the two regions combined.

President Yudhoyono said: “Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) between the two regions remain low compared to the total flows of their respective investments into other regions.

“This makes our Business Forum today particularly relevant. And this makes economic cooperation between ASEAN and Latin America and the Caribbean even more urgent, especially considering that we are in the midst of a slowdown of the global economy.”

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