Banda Aceh (Aentenews) – Governor of Indonesia’s Westernmost province of Aceh, Muzakir Manaf and ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abdulla Salem Al-Dhaheri have agreed to establish a joint team for the implementation of investment, trade and flight programs.
“The joint team begins working in May 2026,” Aceh provincial spokesman, Nurlis Efendi quoted as saying in Banda Aceh.
Muzakir Manaf, popularly called Mualem in his meeting with the UAE ambassador in the envoy’s residence in Jakarta on Tuesday (April 27) agreed to establish a joint team in effort to explore cooperations on investment, trade and flight affairs, Efendi said.
Mualem during the meeting, offered some opportunies to the UAE’s envoy for the investment purpose in Aceh, Effendi noted, adding that the governor’s special staffer, Dr. Suraiya IT also attended the meeting.
Effendi explained, the bilateral cooperations would cover the sectors of oil, gas, mining and palm oil which could be processed into cooking oil.
In addition, Mualem also disclosed about the potentials of trade and export of the provincial processed agricultural products such as coconut oil, coconut flour, including the coconut charcoal briquettes and coconut fiber.
Aceh also has potential to export patchouli oil and agarwood as the raw material for perfume. The Indonesia’s agarwood export destinations covering the Middle East and a few of Asian regions such as Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Singapore and Hongkong.
Besides, Aceh also has potentials on bio energy, wood pallet, activated carbon from coconut shells and activated carbon from palm oil shells for industrial needs.
Meanwhile, the UAE’s ambassador hailed Aceh’s invitation for the bilateral cooperations. The envoy also expressed his country’s assistance to help recover the devastated houses, school buildings and road, following the recent natural disasters such as landslides that hit Aceh regions.
Aceh province shares borders with three countries namely Malaysia, Thailand and India (through Andaman and Nicobar Islands)
Apart from that, Aceh and UAE also explored cooperation on tourism development particularly at the Weh Island in Sabang municipality regarding it’s potentials as one of main tourism destinations, Aceh’s Vice Governor, Fadhulullah cited.
“When I meet with ambassador of the UAE, Abdulla Salem Al-Dhaheri in Jakarta on May 25, we discussed about the development of marine tourism, eco-tourism and their infrastructure,” Fadhulullah said, adding that the friendly meeting took place in the UAE’s premises in Jakarta. //Aentenews by Bustanuddin.
