Brazil and Indonesia on Thursday agreed to boost and struck a series of bilateral agreements, including trade, as leaders from both sides met in Jakarta to make further inroads into South American markets.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received a grandiose welcome at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta before talks with his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto.
The pair signed a series of agreements on Gas, mining, electricity, oil, and agriculture several months after the United States President Donald Trump imposed 19 per cent tariffs on Imports from Indonesia under a new pact, along with a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian products.
Lula, while addressing a gathering on Thursday, said, “I am amused to see that two countries with more than 500 million collective population only maintain a trade of up to $6 billion.”
He said he wants to see the trade between the two nations grow at an unprecedented speed so the benefits of cheaper products could reach the deserving population in both countries, which have recently faced increased pressure from the United States.
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The current exchange of goods and bilateral trade is “not enough for Indonesia, and it is not enough for Brazil."
Similar views were expressed by the Indonesian president, saying that “the two countries are working to build a free trade agreement between Southeast Asia’s largest market and South America’s economic powerhouse.”
"I believe this will strengthen our relations and will make both our economies and the economies of Latin America grow rapidly," Prabowo told Lula.
Prabowo called both countries the “two new economic powers that are rising at a decent rate.”
Brazil has extended relations with Southeast Asia in recent years, and Lula's involvement at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia starts on Sunday, making him the first Brazilian president to do so in decades.
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