JABAR EKSPRES – Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan (Zulhas) proposed to Southeast Asian countries to consider importing wheat from Russia through China or India.
“Earlier we discussed that if you want it to be easier, you can go through India or through China,” Zulhas said when met after a consultation meeting between ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and Russia in Semarang, Central Java, Monday.
According to Zulhas, who is also Chairman of the 2023 ASEAN Economic Ministers, importing wheat from Russia through India and China would be easier because ASEAN does not have logistical distribution barriers to the two countries.
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For Indonesia, Zulhas said, the Government is not worried about barriers to importing Russian wheat because there are supplies from countries in the Americas such as Canada and the United States that can meet national availability.
During the consultation meeting, Zulhas said ASEAN and Russia did discuss agricultural supplies from Russia to ASEAN.
Several other areas discussed by ASEAN and Russia included the implementation of ASEAN-Russia trade and investment cooperation such as the ASEAN-Russia online trade workshop, the tourism sector, connectivity via direct flights, digital security, especially electronic payments and creative animation.
Russia has decided to exit the package agreement on Ukraine’s grain exports from Black Sea ports by July 2023. Russia’s exit from the deal has put pressure on food supply chains for commodities such as wheat, corn and others.
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Russia exited the agreement because the Red Bear State could not meet domestic food and fertilizer needs.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was formed in July 2022 to combat the global food crisis aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia is one of the world’s largest grain exporters.
