Indonesian investment coordinating board chairman Gita Wirjawan and deputy trade minister Mahendra Siregar will brief 150 Indonesian and Australian businesspeople at a two-day conference in Yogyakarta on new business opportunities within bilateral economic ties.

The annual conference of the Indonesia Australia Business Council (IABC), beginning Monday, will discuss new ways of further developing business ties between the two countries amid the green shoots sprouting in the industrialised economies and a robust   recovery in Indonesia.

“The perception among Australian businesspeople towards Indonesia is quite positive, and they are looking forward to even better trade and investment opportunities during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s second administration,” IABC executive director Vic Halim told The Jakarta Post on Friday (November 20).

The meeting will discuss issues related to natural resource and infrastructure development, tourism, small and medium-enterprise partnership, taxation, financing and labour regulations.

Indonesia was Australia’s 13th largest trading partner last year, with two-way trade of merchandise (commodities) and services totaling about US$10 billion.

Indonesia is Australia’s 18th largest investment destination with a cumulative stock of capital investment amounting to nearly $4 billion.