REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WELLINGTON -- Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said Indonesia and New Zealand's cooperation in halal-certified beef and lamb trade was one of the opportunities to boost the two countries' trade balance.

“Lately there has been a decline. Therefore, we need to make further efforts in order to establish mutually beneficial trade relations between the two sides,” Prime Minister Ma'ruf Amin told a news conference after a bilateral meeting with New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters at the New Zealand Parliament House on Wednesday (28/2/2024).

The trade balance of Indonesia and New Zealand experienced a downward trend of 18.82 percent from 2,128.7 million U.S. dollars in 2022 to 1,728 million U.S. dollars in 2023.

During the meeting, the Vice President alluded to halal certified beef and lamb commodities from New Zealand, as opportunities to jack up the two countries' trade balance.

“New Zealand is a sizeable producer of beef and lamb and an exporter of halal lamb meat that has indeed obtained halal certification recognition from the Indonesian halal certification body,” he said.

The Prime Minister also advised Winston Peters that the potential should be re-laid out by the two countries in order to improve trade deals.

The local Livestock Industry Agency reported live cattle exports via sea lanes represented about 0.2 percent of New Zealand's primary sector export earnings since 2015 with an average revenue of about US$42.32 million or about Rp 619.45 billion per year from 2015 to 2019. New Zealand last year exported 113,285 head of cattle by sea.

Meanwhile, the meeting of Vice President Ma'ruf Amin with Winston Peters this afternoon local time was on the agenda of the honorary visit of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Indonesia with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the same building on Tuesday (27/2), in order to improve cooperation relations, especially in the trade sector.

The meeting closed with a joint lunch agenda with a line-up of New Zealand dignitaries with Vice President Ma'ruf Amin and entourage in the same building.

The Vice President was accompanied by Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to New Zealand Fientje Maritje S, Head of the Secretariat of the Vice President Ahmad Erani Yustika, Director General for Asia Pacific and Africa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdul Kadir Jailani, Deputy Adminstration Setwapres Sapto Harjono Wahjoe Sedjati, Special Staff of the Vice President for Reform and Bureaucracy Mohamad Nasir, Special Staff of the Wapres for Communications and Information Masduki Baidlowi, as well as KBRI Function Coordinator Lucky Saud.

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