Still feels like yesterday when I first visited Indonesia in the mid eighties! A country with rich heritage and bustling cities. What remained highlight of the journey was Bali. I can still remember hearing from the guides that Indonesia was a rich country vis-à-vis natural resources. At that time the oil piped out of the country was very much close to that of Saudi Arabia. Even then the country was having their troubles; sounds familiar?

Let’s take a snap shot of what is going on today in this still biggest Muslim country based on population spread over 17,508 islands. In 2009 when it draws to the end and the world is sunk in the recession with a hope to recover Indonesia stands tall and bold with a positive GDP that stood at 3.9 percent on quarter to quarter basis and 4.2 percent on year on year basis. There was a constant improving business index in all business sectors. Yet again a case study for us as it is our brother Muslim country and is on the road to progress. Can we initiate such steps that can give us economic stability and a prosperous future?

The country since its independence after the World War II has moved from authoritarian era between its first president Sukarno and then followed by General Suharto till 1998. Following this period the country entered a new era of re democratization and reforms. The era of Reforms has been gradual and picked up speed after 2004 and many organizations and individuals are to the credit to supporting this transition. Thus Indonesia has endured the challenges of facing communism, authoritarian rule and existence of the country. Even then it has got back on track of the evolution in the positive manner.

Indonesia’s main export markets are Japan , the United States,China, and Singapore. The major suppliers of imports to Indonesia are Japan, China, and Singapore. In 2005, Indonesia ran a trade surplus with export revenues of US$83.64 billion and importexpenditure of US$62.02 billion. The country has extensive natural resources, including crude oil, natural gas, tin, copper, and gold. Indonesia’s major imports include machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, and foodstuffs.

Trade between Pakistan and Indonesia has been gradually growing from $645.4 million in 2004-2005 to $1254 million in 2008 but it is still at a very low level in view of the size of the markets of the two countries. Pakistan still does not occupy the worth mentioning list of countries that trade with Indonesia.

At the forefront of Indonesian pro business policies is the urge of the government to reform and measures to address Corporate Governance and legal system thus changing the business culture. This approach has paid dividends in form of setting up of new businesses. Strengthening this further the government is granting full liberty for foreign direct investments by virtue of green field operations (new projects) or joint ventures.

As the Chambers of Industries and especially RCCI takes interest in promoting joint trade between the two countries substantiating it further by the FTA to be finalized by the beginning of 2010 this will pave the road for our business community to take advantage of this unexplored territory. Let’s begin the learning process and bring success to our two Muslim countries. Amen!