Trade Indonesia and UAE plan to double bilateral trade By Neil Halligan February 13, 2025, 4:24 PM Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters Airlangga Hartarto, Indonesia's coordinating minister for economic affairs, met with the UAE's economy minister Plan to trade $10bn per year Deal at World Government Summit Reduced customs duties Trade between the UAE and Indonesia is set to double in the coming years, following discussions held this week at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Airlangga Hartarto, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for economic affairs, said the countries had agreed to work towards increasing bilateral trade to $10 billion per year, following a meeting with Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, the UAE’s economy minister. The countries signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) in July 2022, which came into effect on September 1, 2023. Hartarto said trade between the countries reached $5 billion last year, up from $3 billion in 2020. Middle East investors turn to airports for safe returns Abu Dhabi & Qatar to help fund Indonesian housing Adia-backed EdgePoint to build 5,000 towers The Cepa agreement provides better market access for UAE products to Indonesia, with 90 percent of products or categories of goods benefitting from reduced or eliminated customs duties. The ministers also discussed the potential for agreements on aviation infrastructure development, including Indonesia’s plans to build a new airport in northern Bali. They also talked about increasing flight frequency between the two countries to boost Indonesia’s tourism, particularly to cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya and Denpasar. “One of the concrete steps is a plan to cooperate on the construction of solar power plants with capacities up to 10GW, as part of efforts to meet energy needs and open up electricity export opportunities to neighbouring countries,” Hartarto said. Indonesia-UAE trade ties Edgnex, the data centre subsidiary of Dubai’s Damac Group, is planning to invest $3 billion in sites across Southeast Asia over the next three to five years, including Indonesia. Clean energy powerhouse Masdar has developed Southeast Asia’s largest floating solar power plant at Cirata, in Indonesia’s West Java province. It has also invested in Pertamina Geothermal Energy, based in Jakarta. Southeast Asian mobile phone tower company EdgePoint Infrastructure, backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), announced plans in January to expand in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The GCC opened negotiations with Indonesia over a free trade agreement in September, covering exports, investment, counter-terrorism cooperation, cooperation on health issues and political support for Palestine. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Adia invested in Indonesia’s Trans Java Toll Roads, part of Indonesia’s bid to raise up to $2.75 billion in investment in its toll road networks. Eagle Hills, the Abu Dhabi developer, signed a tentative agreement in July to develop $3 billion worth of tourism assets in Indonesia.
