Bieber, BlackBerry Improve RI-Canada Ties

VIVAnews – Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia Mackenzie Clugston acknowledged being satisfied to see the bettering trade and economic relations between his countries and Indonesia. He reckoned that the enhanced bilateral ties were due to two factors, BlackBerry and Justin Bieber.

"Indonesia is our biggest trading partner in Southeast Asia, and two-way trade and investment continue to expand. Canada continues to supply two items of utmost importance to Indonesians’ daily lives – wheat for noodles and Blackberries," said Clugston, referring to Canadian smartphone product which is popular among Indonesia’s cellphone users.

Clugston made the statement on the occasion of commemorating 144th Canada Day on July 1, 2011. The celebration took place in a hotel in Jakarta, Thursday evening.

Clugston said that those two products contributed to the increasing Indonesia-Canada trade relation. “The trade volume of the two countries up to now is more or less US$2.2 billion. Indonesia gained surplus, Canada gained revenues of about US$1 billion while Indonesia US$1.2 billion,” said Clugston answering VIVAnews' question.

The ambassador that has been posted in Jakarta for more than two years also said that some Canadian companies--industrial, financial and service have already steady business in Indonesia. “Indonesia represents a growing market for Canada’s goods, service and investment. A lot of our companies have come to Indonesia and employed tens of thousands of Indonesians,” said Clugston.

The two countries also nourish partnership in other sectors, including anti-terrorism, state administration, human rights, pluralism and poverty reduction. "New projects in the past year are focussing on areas such as helping Indonesians in Sulawesi restore mangroves and improve the livelihoods of farmers," said Clugston.

He also reminded that the bilateral ties were recently enhanced through the visit of two Canadian high-rank officials to Indonesia. They are Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. Along with Indonesian officials, they talked about enhancing the bilateral ties in financial service and agricultural industry.

Yet, there was another visit of a person who is more charming. " And who can forget Justin Bieber? We expect many more in the coming months," said Clugston, referring to the teenage star who held a concert in Sentul recently.