"Indonesian products will penetrate the Southern African markets because Namibia is a member of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)," Leonardus said here on Tuesday.
With Namibia now a member of the SADC, goods exported from Namibia to other SADC member countries will be free from import duties," he said.
The SADC is now composed of 14 African states with a combined population of about 300 million. Major countries grouped in the SADC included South Africa, Angola, Zambia, the Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
"So far, Indonesian businesses are reluctant to deal with Namibia because this country only has a population of 2.3 million while actually Nambia could be a jumping board to expand to all other SADC memebrs countries," the former ambassador said.
"Thus the real market potential of Namibia is not 2.3 million but 300 million people ," Leonardus said.
Namibia was a potential market for products like electronics, , cars, shoes, tires, furniture and house appliances, cosmetics, fish, paper, books and print materials, cocoa, ceramics, metal and rubber products.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics of Namibia, Indonesia`s exports of those products to Namibia in the 2006 - 2009 period reached a total value of US$32.4 million.
The figure was very small compared to Indonesia`s exports, for example, to the United States which in the January - July 2011 period alone reached US$1.36 billion. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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