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Brazil: We Want to Deepen Ties With ‘Influential’ Indonesia
Shirley Christie | October 06, 2011

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Brazil has said it wants to strengthen and diversify its strategic partnership with Indonesia, a country with which it shares many similarities, including an abundance of natural resources and the status of an emerging regional powerhouse.

“[Indonesia] has the capacity to influence the other countries in the [Asean] region, just like Brazil in Latin America,” said Maria Edileuza Fontenele Reis, Brazil’s under secretary general for political affairs.

“Indonesia is the only strategic partner we have in Asia besides China,” Reis said on Wednesday as she concluded a four-day visit to the capital.

The strategic partnership between Brazil and Indonesia was established in 2008.

The two countries signed a number of bilateral trade agreements in 2008. Reis said trade between the two reached $3 billion last year and is forecast to increase to $4.5 billion this year.

“It could grow between 30 and 50 percent next year,” she said.

Reis said Indonesia and Brazil had much in common, including large commodity exports as well as a huge and diverse population with different religious groups.

Brazil’s ties with Indonesia, which holds the Asean chair this year, could bring the country closer to the regional market, Reis said.

She said Brazilian companies were already investing in Indonesia. Vale, a multinational mining company, has invested $4.5 billion in West Sumatra and holds a majority stake in International Nickel Indonesia, which was renamed Vale Indonesia last week.

Reis said Brazil was looking forward to expanding its ties with Indonesia in a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, defense, biofuel, mining, tourism and technology.

“In the future, we will also import more from Indonesia,” she said, mentioning fertilizer, textiles and palm oil.

Reis also met Asean officials and Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, an adviser to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to discuss how to combat deforestation.

A trade mission of more than 20 Brazilian companies will visit next month to explore investment opportunities. It will include companies involved in construction for urban transportation, ethanol production and hydropower production.

“Emerging countries are the key element of growth during this global crisis,” Reis said.