President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited China last month to improve a bilateral economic relationship that has been characterized by growing trade imbalances following the signing of a free trade agreement under the ASEAN framework in 2005. Industry Minister Mohammad S. Hidayat, who accompanied the President during the trip, spoke to The Jakarta Post's Bagus Saragih and explained how the visit would build momentum for a more favorable partnership between the two countries. Below are excerpts from the conversation.Question: We made a good number of deals in Beijing. How do you see the prospects in terms of Indonesia's industry sector?Answer: We all know that Indonesia's trade with China, so far, has been unbalanced. First, in terms of the types of commodities, China makes more ready-to-use products, while our exports are still dominated by raw materials such as crude palm-oil (CPO) and coal. This is not good for our industry. Second, in terms of volume, we also suffer losses, regardless of China's claim of different export-import data, which show that they also suffer from a trade deficit. We want to change these phenomena and the agreements we just signed were part of the government's strategy.
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机译：Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono总统上个月访问了中国，以改善双边经济关系，其特征是在2005年根据东盟框架签署自由贸易协定后，贸易失衡加剧。工业部长Mohammad S. Hidayat在总统期间陪同总统。行程中，他与《雅加达邮报》的Bagus Saragih进行了交谈，并解释了这次访问如何为两国之间建立更有利的伙伴关系提供动力。以下是对话摘录。问题：我们在北京达成了大量交易。您如何看待印尼工业领域的前景？答案：我们都知道，到目前为止，印尼与中国的贸易一直不平衡。首先，就商品类型而言，中国生产更多的即用型产品，而我们的出口仍以棕榈油（CPO）和煤炭等原材料为主导。这对我们的行业不利。其次，就数量而言，无论中国声称拥有不同的进出口数据，我们也遭受损失，这表明它们也遭受贸易逆差的困扰。我们想改变这些现象，我们刚刚签署的协议是政府战略的一部分。
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