Bilateral trade, investment, meat and horticulture on the agenda in Indonesia

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke continues his visit to Indonesia today, with visits to a cattle feedlot and one of the largest wheat flour producers in the world.

The Minister yesterday met with Indonesian Minister for Agriculture Dr Anton Apriyantono and Minister for Trade Dr Mari Pangestu and has met today with Minister for Forestry Mr M.S. Kaban.

During the agriculture and trade discussions, Mr Burke emphasised the gains for both Australia and Indonesia from a future ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.

“Any move to liberalise agricultural trade could help to address the global food shortage,” Mr Burke said.

“Australia recognises the challenges faced by agricultural producers in Indonesia and will continue to provide capacity building to assist in developing its agriculture sector.

“I was happy to continue talks which have been on-going, particularly outlining the benefits to both countries.

“We see possible benefits for Australian horticulture producers.

“We’re also keen to encourage Australian investment in the agriculture sector in Indonesia – something which Dr Pangestu and Dr Apriyantono told me was a very high priority for Indonesia.

“We think there are opportunities in agribusiness industries for Australian and Indonesian producers to cooperate to export to the rest of the world and the regional trade agreement would give us a great advantage in world markets.”

Mr Burke also met with leaders from Jakarta Fisheries University and supported their proposed collaboration with the Australian Maritime University, including staff training and exchanges.

Over the next two days the Minister will meet with Indonesian Minister for Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Vice Admiral (Ret.) Freddy Numberi and Minister for Finance and Acting Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Dr Sri Mulyani.

Today Mr Burke visited a cattle feedlot which holds 22,000 head of cattle exported from Darwin. Australia is Indonesia’s major supplier of live cattle, exporting more than 520,000 head in 2007, valued at $339 million.

The Minister will also today visit Indonesian wheat flour producer Bogasari, with a production capacity of 3.6 million tonnes per year. It is believed to be the largest wheat flour producer in the world in a single location. This is an example of Indonesian processing and value adding of Australian raw materials, which shows that our agricultural sectors are complementary.

Bogasari wheat flour is widely used by the noodle, bread and general baking industries and by-products including bran, pollard and industrial wheat are used by cooperatives, the animal feed industry and plywood industry. Bogasari also includes a pasta factory, with a capacity of 60,000 metric tons per year, 80% of which is exported.

Australia is the major supplier of wheat to Indonesia, exporting around 1.5 million tonnes in 2007.

An industry delegation is accompanying the Minister on the visit, including representatives from Meat and Livestock Australia, the Cattle Council of Australia, Australian Livestock Exporters Council and the Australian Citrus Growers.