The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Venezuela, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Saint Lucia, the Commonwealth of Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Imam Edy Mulyono, has stressed the importance of strengthening relations between Indonesia and countries in the Caribbean.
This was during a meeting held with the Head of Missions of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Caracas, Venezuela, on November 9, 2022.
According to a statement from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Caracas, in several multilateral forums, Caribbean countries have supported Indonesia’s candidacy, including Indonesia’s candidacy for a post of non-permanent member of the Security Council (2019-2020) and the United Nations Human Rights Council. Rights Council (2020-2021).
“Good political relations between Indonesia and CARICOM members are the basis for strengthening cooperation in various sectors such as economy and socio-cultural,” Ambassador Imam said.
The Ambassador went on to explain that “several Caribbean businessmen recently attended the Indonesia-Latin America and Caribbean Business Forum (INA-LAC) and Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) last October and they are very interested by Indonesian products, especially in ready-to-drink foods, beverages, as well as agricultural tools.
In addition, the representatives of CARICOM countries who attended this meeting supported Indonesia’s idea to further encourage exchanges between Indonesia and CARICOM countries, including support for the preparatory work of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to improve market access between the two regions, which is currently still in the negotiation phase.
“In the socio-cultural sector, the representatives of the CARICOM countries are very grateful for the various capacity building programs provided by Indonesia. They also appreciate Indonesia as the G20 Presidency this year by raising concrete themes, especially the theme related to mitigating the impact of climate change, which has become a major concern for Caribbean island countries” , explained the Imam ambassador.
Indonesia has been officially accredited as a CARICOM third state since May 2, 2018, the statement said.
The granted status is expected to strengthen relations between Indonesia and CARICOM, as well as develop Indonesia’s economic relations in the Caribbean.
