IN its bid to promote trade ties with Saudi Arabia and increase the scale of imports of Indonesian products, the Consulate General of Indonesia presented a Saudi business entity with the Primaduta Award 2016. The Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah has been continuously striving to encourage Saudi businessmen to increase the volume of imports from the country through a series of business-to-business meetings, strengthened cooperation with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) and related institutions and other trade-promotion activities. Consul General M. Hery Saripudin handed the Primaduta Award from the Indonesian Ministry of Trade to Mohammed Bawazir for Trading (MBT) in recognition of the company's loyalty and efforts to promote Indonesian products at the awards ceremony held at the Nusantara Hall in the residence of the Indonesian consul general last Wednesday. MBT imports Indonesian food and beverages, tuna, sardines, charcoal, pharmaceuticals and medical devices to the Kingdom. Besides the Primaduta Award, the consul general conferred the Duta Niaga Award (Ambassador of Commerce Award) to Hadeel Factory, an importer of pulp and paper commodities, and Al-Ghammah Est, which imports agricultural and plantation products from Indonesia. "This award is a recognition by the Indonesian government of overseas importers for their efforts, hard work and loyalty in consistently improving trade relations between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. On behalf of the government of the Republic of Indonesia, we express our highest thanks to them," said Consul General Saripudin in his welcoming remarks. The Primaduta Award goes to loyal foreign buyers who continuously purchase Indonesian products as reflected in import transactions for three consecutive years, contributing to increasing import volumes or product category expansion. Duta Niaga is an award presented to local companies by the Indonesian Consulate General in recognition of their loyalty in importing commodities from Indonesia. The Duta Niaga award recipients can be proposed to enter competition and assessment by Saudi Chamber of Commerce and Industry in order to be honored with the Primaduta Award. About 100 guests consisting of officials, including Mazen Batterjee, JCCI deputy chairman, Hassan Ibrahim Dahlan, JCCI secretary-general, representatives of the Islamic Development Bank, businessmen, prominent members of Indonesian community, and journalists, attended the award ceremony. Besides screening a profile of Indonesia's economy, the ceremony was enlivened by traditional dances from Sumatera and East Java and Indonesian martial arts.
