Indonesian companies eye coal sector in Vietnam

In his opening remarks at the forum, Ibnu Hadi, Indonesian ambassador to Vietnam, said that Indonesia and Vietnam have enjoyed fruitful economic relations, with trade between the two countries rising by almost 30%, mostly from coal trading.

“The Vietnamese economy has developed very fast, resulting in the demand for many power plants, some of which use coal,” Hadi said, explaining why the total volume of coal imported from Indonesia had risen 95% year-on-year in 2018.

Besides this, Vietnam has limited coal production, which is a basic necessity for some industries.

Apart from Indonesia, Vietnam also imports the material for power production from Russia and Australia. However, Indonesia has a variety of advantages, such as being geographically closer and having the same representatives in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which eliminates tariff and technical barriers among participants.

“The cooperation between the two countries will be strong for a couple more years,” Hadi said.

The business forum is the second one held by the Indonesian Embassy in Vietnam, following a forum held in 2017.

The Indonesian ambassador stated that Vietnam plans to install more economically friendly power alternatives, such as wind, solar and gas-fired power generation.

“We will consider gas, which is quite abundant in my country, maybe in a couple of years,” he said.