The Dubai International Chamber recently organized one of its largest overseas trade missions to date, taking a delegation of 17 companies from Dubai to Indonesia to facilitate business expansion opportunities in the promising Southeast Asian market. As the first leg of the chamber’s week-long Southeast Asia tour, the mission arranged no less than 200 bilateral meetings between Emirati and Indonesian businesses in Jakarta.
Indonesia has long been identified by Dubai Chamber as a priority market due to its strong economic growth and large domestic consumer base. With a population of over 270 million people, it is the world’s 4th most populous country and the largest economy in Southeast Asia based on GDP. Indonesia has achieved average GDP growth of over 5% for much of the past decade and is projected to become one of the ten largest economies globally by 2030 according to some forecasts.
Dubai has been steadily growing its trade ties with Indonesia in recognition of the partner’s burgeoning economic power and import/export potential. Non-oil bilateral trade between the two hit a record high of AED 12.9 billion in 2023, up 7.7% year-on-year according to Dubai Customs. Over the past ten years, trade has ballooned by over 50% – a testament to the deepening cooperation.
The trade mission aimed to further catalyze this momentum and help Dubai companies penetrate new opportunities within Indonesia’s business landscape. “We are committed to strengthening trade and investment relations between the business communities in Dubai and Indonesia,” said Dubai Chamber President Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah at the mission’s opening business forum in Jakarta.
Attended by over 470 Indonesian officials, business leaders and companies, the forum provided an ideal platform for networking and exploring partnership possibilities. Presentations from Dubai Chamber and the UAE Embassy in Jakarta shed light on doing business in both markets, highlighting sectors ripe for collaboration like infrastructure, healthcare, tourism and more.
A panel discussion with industry experts offered valuable local market insights. They emphasized Indonesia’s diverse economic base, rapid digital transformation, supportive investment policies and the potential of its consumption-driven domestic economy. This set the stage for an action-packed day of pre-arranged bilateral meetings between interested parties.
Over the following days, the delegation continued engaging with potential partners through additional meetings and site visits. They assessed opportunities across various promising sectors for UAE exports to Indonesia such as aluminum, metals, precious stones, copper and copper articles. Meanwhile, commodities with high potential as Indonesian imports to Dubai include wooden panels/sheets, palm oil, clothing and cocoa butter.
Areas of mutual investment interest identified include automotive manufacturing, construction, agriculture and tropical fruit exports. Dubai Chamber sees opportunities for partnerships that can help Indonesian SMEs scale up through access to Dubai’s advanced infrastructure and role as a regional trade and logistics hub. There is also scope for collaboration on food security initiatives leveraging the UAE’s agritech strengths.
The mission highlighted Dubai’s competitive advantages as a springboard for Indonesian companies seeking to expand within the Middle East market. With a business-friendly regulatory environment and strategic location between Europe, Africa and Asia, Dubai offers an attractive base to reach over 3 billion potential customers through its free trade agreements.
Its world-class infrastructure, from ports to airports, supports efficient movement of goods across the region and globally. Indonesian firms can also take advantage of Dubai’s position as a leading financial center and gateway for capital flows and FDI into high-growth emerging economies. Participating in the mission helped uncover synergies between the two markets across various economic sectors.
The Indonesia trip marked the first phase of Dubai Chamber’s ‘New Horizons’ initiative to drive the international expansion of local companies and capture opportunities in promising global markets. Vietnam is next on the itinerary, with more destinations to follow in support of Dubai’s non-oil trade growth agenda. As the largest business group in the emirate, Dubai Chamber plays a pivotal role in outward missions that foster commercial diplomacy and bilateral economic cooperation.
By facilitating face-to-face interactions between businesses, the Indonesia mission laid an important foundation for future partnerships and joint ventures that can help further diversify Dubai’s trade portfolio. It demonstrated the Chamber’s commitment to unlocking commercial doors for its members across high-potential regions like Southeast Asia. As Dubai and Indonesia deepen economic ties, such initiatives will continue playing a vital role in realizing their shared vision for inclusive and sustainable prosperity.
