Indonesia Stands Ready to Support India’s Biodiesel Program

Indonesia sent a trade mission to India to attend the 4th India-ASEAN Expo and Summit 2019 in New Delhi, to strengthen the cooperation with their counterparts in the countries. At the event started from 21 to 23 February 2019, Indonesian delegation consisted of government officials, minister, business leaders, and stakeholders in palm oil sector. Apart from promoting palm oil products, the delegation led by Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita raised the issue to increase Indonesia’s commodities export to India. Currently, India is the Indonesia’s largest palm oil importer. Leaders from 28 companies and 37 businesspeople joined up with Enggartiasto on the trade mission. Enggartiasto reaffirmed Indonesia’s commitment to support India’s biodiesel program. Currently, India is encouraging the use of renewable energy resources as alternate fuels to supplement transport fuels and implementing a target of 20 percent biofuel blending, both biodiesel and bioethanol. This program gives an opportunity for Indonesia to increase biodiesel export to India. Enggartiasto accompanied the Minister for Commerce, Industry and Civil Aviation India Suresh Prabhu to visit Pavilion Indonesia at the expo which showed palm oil product and its derivatives. At the pavilion Prabhu tasted a chocolate made of palm oil-based Subtitute Butter Chocolate (SBC). Inaugurating the expo, in his remarks Prabhu offered an opportunity to governments, stakeholders and industry to capitalize and enhance efforts of sustaining momentum of trade and investment in the region. Apart from offering opportunity in palm oil sector, Prabhu also invited companies from the ASEAN region to take advantage of the multifarious opportunities that are being unleashed in India in areas such as healthcare, education, tourism, financial services and artificial intelligence. The ASEAN region is becoming one of the preferred trading and investment regions for Indian businesses and FICCI as an apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India, gives special focus to this region. The combined strength of the single ASEAN market is more than US$2.6 trillion and India`s US$2.7 trillion economy, creates an economic power house that has the potential to become one of the strongest in the world. Earlier, Indonesia and India had held a business forum to strengthen strengthen economic cooperation between the two sides, particularly in palm oil sector. The “Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil”-themed forum was organized by Indonesia`s Ministry of Trade in collaboration with the Indonesia Oil Palm Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS), Foreign Ministry and FICCI. ***