And while India and China continue to boom, their economies continue to sky rocket and disposable incomes continue to rise, its not only the two countries that are set to grow and make this the Asian Century. In their rise, India and China are leading to the prosperous rise of their neighbors _ Indonesia, Vietnam, Phillipines, BUrma, Thailand and Nepal. In a recent report by Bloomberg, Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, expressed optimism for the Indonesian economy thanks to India and China’s demand, and despite a slowdown in the American economy.

We are aiming for higher than 6.8 percent,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in an interview in Jakarta, referring to the government’s forecast for next year’s expansion. “India and China will be quite strong in actually pulling growth in the region.”

Indonesia’s economy,

 Southeast Asia’s largest, is expanding at the fastest pace yet since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. The growth is attributed to soaring prices for palm oil, coal and other commodities demanded by India and China. Exports to China are growing four times quicker than Indonesian sales in the U.S, the Bloomberg report said.

Third-quarter profit at PT Astra Agro Lestari, Indonesia’s biggest publicly traded agriculture company, almost tripled to a record 603.34 billion rupiah ($65 million) on higher palm oil prices. The company sold 46 percent of its palm oil to India in the first 10 months of the year.

Consequently in China, the world’s largest user and producer of coal, will be a net importer of 18 million metric tons in 2008, UBS AG said in a report on Dec. 6, pushing up prices of energy and helping miners in Indonesia, which is the biggest exporter of coal used in power plants.

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