Indonesia and China are seeing solid progress in their bilateral economic cooperation, with the ties helping bolster expectations that Southeast Asia's largest economy will become a trading hub for the region, an expo forum heard in Jakarta on Thursday.

The remarks were made at a gathering during the 8th China Homelife Trade Show, which opened in the Indonesian capital on Wednesday and runs through Saturday.

Key speakers at the forum included Luo Jie, vice-chairman and secretary of the China Sporting Goods Federation, and Vinsensius Jemadu, deputy for tourism products and events organization at Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.

The expo, organized by PT Meorient Exhibition Indonesia, brings suppliers from a wide range of industries, including building and decoration materials, appliances and electronics, furniture, and sporting goods.

More than 2,000 exhibitors, mainly from the Chinese mainland, are taking part in the expo.

Luo, the China Sporting Goods Federation vice-chairman, said China and Indonesia have enhanced their mutual trust and strengthened the relationship, with the expo being the latest concrete evidence of the close linkages.

Luo lauded China-Indonesia relations that have been further strengthened by top leaders of the two countries over the past several years.

"We hope that through this expo we will be able to create constructive dialogues that cross our states' borders and our languages," Luo said.

Positive impact

Jemadu, from Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, said he hopes the expo will have a positive impact on businesses from Indonesia and China, including the tourism sectors in the two countries.

He said Indonesia provides big business opportunities in the MICE — meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions — tourism segment.

Visitors to MICE events in Indonesia generally had longer stays in the country than those who came in for leisure, he said.

Speaking to China Daily at the expo on Thursday, Larissa Zhou, country regional manager of Meorient Exhibition International (Indonesia), said Indonesia could become a trading hub for the ASEAN region in the future. She said the success of the expos prompted them to plan a large machinery show in Jakarta in June next year.

She said they had planned to bring in businesses from all sectors including those from tourism and education.

Officials from Indonesia's Ministry of Trade and other departments spoke to participants in special sessions on topics such as import and export regulations.

Yendi Suhendi, a young garment producer from Jakarta, said he had come to the expo to explore whether he and his local business partner could forge cooperation with a Chinese entity.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.