RI, Malaysia Bilateral Trade Reaches Rp180 Trillion

Pekanbaru, Riau - The value of trade between Indonesia and Malaysia in 2011 was recorded at 55.92 ringgit or 18.30 billion dollars, or equivalent to Rp180 trillion, a Malaysian consul said. "The value of trade between the two nations increased by 8.42 billion ringgit or about Rp24 trillion if compared with that in 2010 which was 47.5 billion ringgit or about Rp156 trillion," Malaysian Consul Azizan Ismail said here on Sunday. In the trade and stock investment Malaysia always considered Indonesia a good partner with a big contribution. Indonesia is an important partner in economy, trade and investment for Malaysia. He said Indonesia would continue to develop that could contribute progress to the two neighboring nations. Malaysia is now the eighth biggest investor in Indonesia, particularly in 2011 when many Malaysian companies made investment in various parts of Indonesia. That's why the values of Malaysian investment in Indonesia continued to increase in 2011. In the meantime, Azizan said on Saturday that the number of Indonesian visitors to Malaysia totaled 2.134 million or the second largest after Singaporean visitors that reached 3 million last year. The number of the Indonesian visitors declined from 2.506 million in 2010 after rising from 2.405 million in 2009, Malaysian consul Azizan Ismail said here on Saturday. In the first five months of this year, the number of Indonesian visitors to the neighboring country already reached 889,000, Azizan said. He predicted the number this year would not be too much different from last year. He said there are a number of factors causing the decline last year such as the opening of direct flights by Garuda Indonesia, the nation's flag carrier, to Europe without transit in Malaysia. Other causes of the decline in the number of Indonesian visitors to Malaysia include the opening of "integrated resort" and "universal studio" in Singapore, he said.(*)