ENVOY: PAKISTAN WANTS TO BE CENTER FOR INDONESIAN PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTION

Jakarta, June 25 (ANTARA) - Pakistani Ambassador to Indonesia Ali Baz Khan has expressed his country's wish to become a center for distribution of Indonesian products in Pakistan as well as surrounding countries.

Pakistan and Indonesia had a big chance to improve cooperation in the economic field, and Pakistan could become a center for distribution of Indonesian export products, Ambassador Ali Baz Khan said here on Tuesday at a dialog forum organized by the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists (CAJ) in cooperation with the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) and the Communication and Informatics Ministry.

The forum attended by businessmen and journalists, was officially opened by the ministry's Director General of Communication Facilities and Information Dissemination Freddy Tulung.

The envoy said that Pakistan had a strategic position with a number of countries such as Afghanistan, India and ex-Soviet Union states.

He said that he was still unsatisfied about the two countries' relations especially in the economic field.

Pakistan's imports from Indonesia include coal, palm oil, plastic products, and tea, while its exports to Indonesia are among other things rice, cotton, thread and fish.

The value of the bilateral trade reached US$870 million in 2007, and the figure is estimated to increase to one billion US dollars this year.

Indonesia enjoyed a surplus in its trade with Pakistan reaching a ratio of one to 12, according to Syed Hamid Ali, Commercial Secretary of the Pakistan embassy in Jakarta.

Ambassador Ali Baz Khan encouraged both countries' businessmen to intensify contacts directly or through other parties such as the respective chambers of commerce and industry, and to organize trade expo more frequently.

He also informed the audience that Indonesian private company Ciputra group intended to invest in Pakistan and was currently looking for suitable partners.

The ambassador also said that the bilateral relations in the political field was very good, but not yet in the tourism and cultural fields, he said.

He said BJ Habibie, Indonesia's third president, was the only Indonesian head of state ever visited Pakistan so far. Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharaf visited Indonesia in 2005 for the Asian-African Conference's Jubilee and again in 2007 for bilateral talks with Indonesian President Yudhoyono.

On the occasion he also explained about the Kashmir and nuclear issues.