JAKARTA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese ambassador to Indonesia Zhang Qiyue said here on Monday that trade value between Indonesia and China was down by 20 percent year-on-year to 11.7 billion U.S. dollars in the first half this year.

    She said that the trade value reduction in the first half this year was due to the impact of global economic crisis and was the first to occur since 2001.

    Zhang, however, said that the trade value between the two countries apparently increased 37.2 percent in the second quarter this year, compared with the number in the first quarter. She regarded it as a sign of recovery.

    "The trade value between Indonesia and China is expected to reach 30 billion U.S. dollars in 2010. But surprisingly we learned that the trade value has reached 31.5 billion dollars in 2008," Zhang said in her remarks to usher Chinese's Henan province delegation in the Indonesian Industrial Ministry.

    The ambassador said that Indonesia is now regarded as China's fourth largest trade partner among the ten countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

    According to Zhang, some 700 Chinese investors already invested in energy, finance, transportation, automotive, farming and fisheries.

    She said that Chinese investment in non-financial sector has reached 100 million U.S. dollars in the first half this year, or 3.6 times higher than it was in the corresponding period last year.

    She expected that the cooperation between the delegation and the Indonesian ministry would support the bilateral investment and trade ties. "I believe it will provide mutual benefit for the two parties," she said.

    The ASEAN-China free trade pact, that will commence early next year, will pave the way for Indonesian commodities to enter the lucrative Chinese market, she added.