On Thursday, KADIN Indonesia in collaboration with The Embassy of Romania held a virtual business dialogue bringing up the topic “Leveraging Romania as The Hub to Central and Eastern Europe Markets”. The discussion started by the opening session from Dan Adrian Bălănescu (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the Republic of Indonesia accredited to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and to ASEAN), Amhar Azeth (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of The Republic of Indonesia to Romania accredited to the Republic of Moldova), Stefanus Anastasia (Chairman of Romania-Indonesia Friendship Group and Parliament Member), Arsjad Rasjid P.M. (Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), and Eduard Costin (Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry). Followed by keynote presentations and roundtable discussion from Sorin Toader (Director of Non-Europe Bilateral Relation, Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism Romania), Cristian Ilie (Director General of Invest Romania, Ministry for Entrepreneurship and Tourism), Bernadino Vega (Vice Chairman of International Relations, KADIN Indonesia), Sari Handini Murti (Director of the Indonesian Trade and Promotion Center in Budapest, Responsible for Eastern and Central European Countries), and Alexander Yahya Datuk (Head of Bilateral Committee for Romania, Bulgaria & Moldova of KADIN Indonesia) as a moderator.

This virtual dialogue discussed the business potential between the two countries and how Romania could become the Indonesian market hub for the larger Central European market that could increase bilateral business-to-business interaction.

Bilateral relations between Indonesia and Romania have been developed for more than 70 years, therefore cooperation in economic diplomacy and investment is needed to step up. One of the potential collaborations that can be further explored between the two countries is the trade sector. Indonesia is looking forward to exploring the potential of the Port of Constanta in Romania as the modern strategic seaport to connect the Indonesian trade with greater Europe since the current shipment from Indonesia is sent to Rotterdam port which makes the route is way too long. Constanta port is one of the potential ports that is capable of being the alternative entry port for Indonesian goods to enter the Central and Eastern European markets.