Canada Tries To Boost Its Ties With Indonesia – OpEd
The relations between Canada, a North American country, and Indonesia, the largest member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have been growing by leaps and bounds. Both countries have been negotiating a bilateral comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) since 2021.
“The negotiations for a Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement would complete soon. It would strengthen the bilateral relations further,” Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia Jess Dutton said at a reception to celebrate the 157th Canada Day at the Fairmont Hotel in Jakarta on July 3.
“Indonesia and Canada are very rich in natural resources and in biodiversity. Both are democratic countries and have pluralistic societies. The relations between Canada and Indonesia are growing strongly”.
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau has congratulated all Canadians on July 1 in connection with the CanadaDay.
“Together, let’s keep improving this incredible place we all call home. Let’s make our communities more vibrant, dynamic, and inclusive. Let’s break barriers and create opportunity for everyone. Let’s build a future where every generation has a fair shot, no matter who you are, where you come from, how you pray, or who you love. And let’s work together to fulfil the promise of this country – a promise of peace, freedom, prosperity, and fairness,” Trudeau said in a message.
If the negotiations of CEPA are completed, it would give access to Canadian businesspeople to a rapidly growing market in Southeast Asia. It would eliminate or reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers, enhance access to Southeast Asian supply chains and establish a more transparent and predictable environment for trade and investment.
For many years, both Canada and Indonesia have maintained a strong partnership across many areas, including trade and investment, good governance, human rights, religious freedom and pluralism; poverty reduction; counter-terrorism and security capacity building; and, the prevention of human smuggling and illegal migration.
Indonesia’s Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono was the chief guest at the reception.
“Our friendship with Canada is based on mutual trust and our bilateral trade is also growing. Wish you all a Happy Canada Day,” Agus said in his speech.
Economic ties
The bilateral trade between Indonesia and Canada has been very impressive. In 2022, the trade was US$4.22 billion, a huge jump from $2.66 billion in 2017. But the trade was slightly decreased to $3.44 billion in 2023.
Indonesia mainly exports machinery, electrical equipment, knitted apparel, rubber, cacao, coffee and footwear to Canada. It imports fertilizers, wheat, cereals, wood pulp, oil seeds, meat, aluminium and machinery from Canada.
Indonesiais currently ranked 2nd as Canada's foreign direct investment (FDI) destination in Southeast Asia with a total investment reaching $5.7 billion. Canadian direct investment to Indonesia are mainly channeled to energy and mining, financial services, hospitality, infrastructure and IT sectors.
The stock of Indonesian direct investment in Canada was $126 million.
Since 2000, Canada has provided over $1billion in official development assistance to Indonesia and remains committed to supporting its development priorities and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. This includes a focus on promoting green, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation, and advancing the empowerment and rights of women and girls.
Canada is not only a good friend of Indonesia, it is a strategic partner of ASEAN.
“Canada is having a central partnership with ASEAN. I congratulate all the Canadians a Happy Canada Day,” Canadian Ambassador to ASEAN Vicky Singmin at the reception.
In May this year senior officials of ASEAN and Canadian officials met in Ottawa and discussed ways to deepen the ASEAN-Canada cooperation inareas such as maritime cooperation, transnational crime, cyber security, trade andinvestment, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), digital transformation,sustainable development, renewable energy, food security, environment and climatechange, women empowerment, people-to-people contacts, education, health, disastermanagement, connectivity, narrowing development gap, smart cities and infrastructure.
Both sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of commoninterest and concern, including the importance of maintaining ASEAN’s Centrality in theevolving regional architecture.
On April 30, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau talked to Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto over telephone to congratulate him on his victory in the election. He also praised the Indonesian people for their strong turnout and continued commitment to democracy.
“The two leaders discussed areas of common interest and the growing bilateral relations between Canada and Indonesia, including strong economic ties. They reaffirmed their support for ongoing negotiations around the Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, and looked forward to the Team Canada Trade Mission to Indonesia later this year,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
“The Prime Minister and the President-elect discussed the continued implementation of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. They also discussed opportunities to co-operate on critical minerals, and emphasized the importance of working together to strengthen support for the rules-based international order”.
Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy provides a10-yearframework to manage Canada’s relationship with countries in the region to address joint priorities, anchored in our commitment to protect the safety of Canadians and the strategic interests of Canada. It is a platform on which to cultivate important key relationships, including in the North Pacific with the ASEAN, as well as with India.
Trudeau is looking forward to further strengthening the partnership between Canada and Indonesia after Prabowo takes office in October.
Indonesia and Canada have established their diplomatic relations on Oct. 9, 1952. Canada was a trusted friend of Indonesia before 1952. It helped Indonesia to gain international recognition for its independence from the Dutch colonial power in 1945.
Indonesia and Canada have been working together on regional and international forums where both countries shared common interests such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), G20 and the United Nations. They also lend mutual support in other international forum where both are member countries.