With thousands of Indonesian students going abroad every year for higher studies, the scope for university-level tie-ups is high for educational institutions in Coimbatore and Indonesia, said Saut Siringoringo, Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia.

Mr. Siringoringo told The Hindu here on Friday that many students of Indian origin are now pursuing higher studies in south India. Indonesian students also go to countries such as Japan and Australia. The possibility of a tie-up between Mumbai University and Symbiosis University with those in Indonesia is being worked out. “India should make use of this opportunity,” he said.

Another major area of focus for Indonesia is tourism. The number of tourists from India to Indonesia in 2016 was 3,80,000.

In 2015, it was 2,90, 000. “In two years, we want tourism to be our biggest industry. We got totally 10 million tourists last year. We want it to go up to 20 million in 2019,” he said. In this connection, there are efforts to have air connectivity with more Indian cities.

Bilateral trade between India and Indonesia reached 12.96 billion $ in 2016. India was now the third largest trade partner for Indonesia.

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