That was the confident prediction by Aa Kustia, Indonesia's ambassador to China.

Measures to be adopted this year include new business co-operation deals and set up of new Chinese financial institutions in Indonesia as well as the opening up of bilateral tourism markets, Kustia said.

As a move to foster bilateral ties and shore up domestic unity between different ethnic groups, Indonesia's government has for the first time adopted the Chinese Lunar New Year as an official holiday, the ambassador told China Daily.

China and Indonesia have great potential for business co-operation in many areas such as agriculture, energy development, power generation and machine building.

Regarding the agricultural sector, the ambassador said China has great potential demand for palm oil, sugar and paper pulp from Indonesia, while Indonesia has great import potential for Chinese motorcycles, ship engines and buses, which have a good reputation among Indonesian customers thanks to lower prices but similar quality to imports from Europe and Japan.

The ambassador, who has been in China for six months, said one priority during his three-year tenure here is to enhance trade co-operation between the two countries.

He said the Bank of China, one of China's four State-owned commercial banks and China's major foreign exchange bank, will launch a branch in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, in the middle of the year so as to finance trade links between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the two countries have already inked deals to officially open up the bilateral tourism market next month, a move that is likely to bring mammoth revenues for both countries.

"We hope the move will greatly foster the outbound tourism markets between these two nations," Kustia said.

China has already designated 65 travel agencies to develop Sino-Indonesia outbound trips. For its part, Indonesia has approved more than 48 travel agencies for the same purpose. The number could increase with the upswing of the market.

The ambassador said the country is expected to host 300,000 Chinese tourists this year, a huge increase from the 40,000 tourists it welcomed in 2000.

Bilateral trade stood at US$6.7 billion last year, a slight decrease from the US$7.5 billion in 2000, due to the current global economic downturn.

"With the global economy starting to bounce back this year, I believe bilateral trade and investment will see great upturns this year," Kustia said.

(China Daily February 11, 2002)