Ashraf AboArafe
Meeting yesterday Mr. Mohamed Shahran Bakti, Commercial Attaché of the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, His Excellency said, “Egyptian-Indonesian relations are historical and date back to 1947 when the two countries established diplomatic relations. Both are Muslim-majority countries with non-Muslim minorities. Indonesia has an embassy in Cairo and Egypt has an embassy in Jakarta. Both are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of Twenty for Developing Countries, and the Developing Eight.
Egypt was also the first sovereign country to recognize the independence of Indonesia, which was declared on August 17, 1945, and then diplomatic relations were established between Egypt and Indonesia in 1947. Mr. Bakti added that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries from 2019 to 2024, which includes Indonesian exports to Egypt of crude palm oil, coffee, and tea Textiles, electronics and other things as follows:
Mr. Bakti added that the recent D-8 summit in Egypt, including Indonesia as one of the main countries, will contribute well to strengthening economic relations between the group members, especially free trade agreements, whether exports or imports.
Regarding the idea of BRICS, the commercial attaché, Bakti, said, “The idea of BRICS is basically based on surviving the dollar crisis, as happened recently in Egypt. Therefore, the member states using the local currency for each of them for import and export had a good reaction for everyone, thanks to the use of the most secure transfer mechanism between exporters and importers through banks in both countries, such as Egypt and Indonesia. We are still waiting for Egypt to issue a letter of credit regarding international trade. Regarding the discussion of the member states of the D-8 on the idea of linking with the BRICS group, Mr. Bakti said, “I have not heard that something like this happened at the 12th D-8 summit in Cairo recently, because the idea of linking will lead to a clash between the BRICS group on the other hand and the United States of America according to the philosophy of each of them, socialism, where the eastern countries are against capitalism, where the western countries are, specifically the future of the dollar as the dominant currency for the import and export mechanism and attempts to replace the Chinese yuan, for example, with the US dollar. And if you ask exporters or importers which is better, the local currency or the dollar, the answer will of course be the local currency.”
Regarding the idea of replacing the Arab League with the League of Islamic States, Mr. Muhammad Shahran commented, “Indonesia is considered the largest Islamic country in the world, with a population of two hundred and seventy million people, and the issue of halal according to Islamic law is one of the common links with Egypt and other Islamic countries.”
Regarding the dream of the Islamic world as a single unit without borders and a single currency such as the dirham or dinar, as they are mentioned in the Holy Quran, the trade attaché said, “Oil is a powerful weapon, and thus the oil countries may have the ability to achieve the dream, and thus the Islamic world can support and elevate Muslims everywhere, such as Gaza, the Uyghurs, Kashmir, Myanmar, and others, but geopolitics has another impact.”
Regarding the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Indonesia, Mr. Shahran said, “About 1.5 billion US dollars in exports and imports, and Indonesian exports to Egypt reach about 1.3 billion US dollars in olive oil, dates, textiles, and food. Such as Indomie and others.. while Egypt’s exports to Indonesia are about 200 million US dollars.
Regarding whether Indonesian investments in Egypt are within the “free zone” policy of the Investment Authority, Mr. Shahran said that Indonesian investments operate according to Egyptian laws.
Regarding whether there are challenges facing economic cooperation between Egypt and Indonesia, the commercial attaché said, “Undoubtedly, competitors such as Vietnam, Singapore, Brazil, Ethiopia, etc.
