BILATERAL RELATIONS IN POLITICAL FIELDS

BILATERAL RELATIONS IN ECONOMIC AND TRADE

Bilateral relations of Indonesia-Romania in the economical field formally started by the signing of the Agreement on Economical and Technical Cooperation on 11 October 1962 in Jakarta. On 23 November 1982, the agreement was renewed. To implement and breakdown the renewed version of the agreement, in January 1984 the two government established Indonesia-Romania Joint Commission on Economical and Technical Cooperation, of which first meeting took place in Bucharest , back to back with the signing of the agreement.

In 1997, at the same time with the 5th meeting of the Commission in Bucharest, Indonesia and Romania signed an Investment and Guarantee Agreement (IGA) and Banking Arrangement, and strengthened the commitment to boost bilateral relations in economics and trade between the two countries.

To fill its bilateral relation in economics and trade the two counties have also made exchange of visits, either by government officials or business communities. Through its Embassy in Bucharest, Indonesia always participated in all major exhibitions in Bucharest and other cities in Romania. In those exhibitions, government and private sectors from Indonesia also participated to explore the market. However, so far, the economics potentials of each country have not been fully explored yet. Therefore, trade volume between the two countries is still low.

According to the Indonesia-Romanian bilateral trade report as released by the Association of Exporters and Importers of Romania, export volume of Indonesia to Romania in 2001 is USD 35,5 million, while import volume of Indonesia from Romania is only USD 4,7 million. Indonesian exports to Romania are still dominated by natural products such as coffee, cocoa, rubber, while other semi-manufactured and manufactured products started to enter the market such as plastic product, as well as computer and electric equipment. On other hand, Romanian exports to Indonesia consists of mostly machinery products, mineral and chemical products, metallurgy and technology for oil exploration and other mining and industrial equipment.

Balance of trade between Indonesia and Romania in the last seven years as shown by the table below is still low and less progressive:

T a b l e
Indonesia – Romania Trade balance
(in million US$))Year Export Import Balance Volume

Year	Export	Import	Balance	Volume
1995	10,9	46,4	-35,5	57,3
1996	17,5	9,1	8,4	26,6
1997	18,9	48,9	-30	67,8
1998	30,3	7,5	22,8	37,8
1999	22,8	2,9	20,5	25,7
2000	28,2	3	24,8	31,2
2001	35,5	4,7	30,8	40,2
2002	37,8	10,5	27,3	48,3
2003	48,3	4,8	43,5	53,1
2004	56	17	39	73
2005*	30,57	2,43	28,14	33
* : the fisrt five months of the year 2005
Source : Department of Foreign Trade / National Statistic Institute of Romania.

To enhance trade relations, the Embassy tried to reactivate its trade promotion by participating in International Trade Fair for Consumer Goods (TIBCO) in 2000, 2001 and 2002 in Romexpo Bucharest. In the edition of 2002, 10 small and medium size entrepreneurs from Indonesia participated. Every April and October, Indonesia also participates in Tourism Fair, while every November Indonesia participates in Suveniruri Expo.

In investment, according to the data base of Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, until the end of 2000, there were 3 companies which are financed by Indonesian investors, namely, Indorom International Impex Srl, in Cluj (US$ 5,1 million); Arnis Srl, in Sibiu (US$ 0,1 million); and Genfor Srl in Hunedoara (US$ 5,1 million). On the other hand, there are 2 Romanian investment in export-import sector located in Bali, namely PT. VOZ BBG (US$ 60,000) and PT. Cascom International Trading (US$ 100,000) .

TOP

BILATERAL RELATIONS IN INFORMATION, SOCIAL AND CULTURE

The Bilateral Relation of Cooperation on Information, Social and Culture between Indonesia – Romania runs smoothly. The MoU On Culture signed by both Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries was concluded during the visit of the President of the Republic of Indonesia in 1960 to Romania and since then it has become the first legal cooperation agreement between Indonesia – Romania. The signing was followed by the opening of the Embassies in both countries. The MoU allowed the cooperation in the field Culture, High Education, Knowledge and Scientific research.

As the follow-up of the cooperation agreement, in 1961 the Romanian Government began to offer full-board scholarship for Indonesian students interested to study in the universities in Romania. By the end of the validity of the scholarship in 1965, dozens of Indonesian student had benefited of the scholarship, most of whom studied in Medical, Economic, Polytechnics, Mining and Refinery field. At present, the Romanian Government is still offering facility not only for students from Indonesia, but also scholarship for the embassy’s staff members in the form of free of tuition fee. On the contrary, the number of Romanian students benefiting scholarship from Indonesian high education institution seems to be small.

On various occasions, Romanian Officials expressed their hope directly that the 2 countries can make efforts to find ways for reviewing the 1960 Cultural Cooperation Agreement, whether at the level of substance or in the implementation, on the grounds of the fundamental changes having occurred in both countries.

The cooperation on Sport between Indonesia and Romania has begun since the communist era. Ever since, Indonesia has sent a number of Athletes to Romania for training and Romania has sent their trainers or coaches to Indonesia for a period of time. The sports for which the Indonesian Athletes came to train are fencing, Water Polo and wrestling , as well gymnastics. The most frequent sport field chosen by the Indonesian Athletes is Gymnastic.

Indonesian national athletes came for training in the field of gymnastics in 1985 , 1986, 1987, 1999, 2003, and on March 2005. Most of the Indonesian national Athletes came to Romania in view of short or long term training before the participating in Sea Games contest or international contest events. Beside the gymnastic training, in 1997 Indonesia sent wrestling team to Romania for 2 months ( July – August) in view of preparation for Sea Games contest in Jakarta in October 1997. In August – September 1997, Indonesian national athlete on Fencing also conducted try-out in Romania.

BACK TO TOP