The Indonesian government said Tuesday it is ready to enhance trade and investment cooperation with China to implement the strategic partnership signed last year, stressing that the cooperation must be mutually beneficial.

Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said the time has come for both countries to substantiate the strategic partnership in trade and investment into concrete actions.

"I think we are now at the stage that we must start implementing (the strategic partnership). On the trade fronts, we have been given a target by our leaders," she said in a seminar on Sino-Indonesia relations in Jakarta.

"The strategic trade target is to triple trade at the level of 2005 to 30 billion U.S. dollars by 2010 and of course from our perspective, given what happened in 2005, we really would like to see it mutually beneficial," said the minister.

Last year, Indonesia for the first time ever saw a deficit in its non-oil trade with China, although it remained to enjoy a surplus in overall trade.

In achieving the tripling of bilateral trade volume, Pangestu said Indonesia prefers to have a balanced outcome.

"I mean it would not be a good outcome if it was 20 billion dollars Chinese import and 10 billion Indonesian export, for instance," she said.

But Pangestu underlined that her government would maintain cooperative ways in enhancing trade and investment cooperation with China.

Source: Xinhua