Indonesia Wants To Have Cooperation With Mekong Area
JAKARTA - Indonesia has a desire to cooperate with countries in the Mekong area as a whole, in addition to bilateral cooperation, to look at the potential of countries outside of traditional Indonesian partners, said Indonesian Ambassador to Cambodia Santo Darmosumarto.
Crossing a length of 4,350 kilometers, Mekong Area has many potentials that can be collaborated through Indonesia's partnership with countries in the region.
"Bilaterally we have a relationship, for example with Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos," said Ambassador Santo on the sidelines of the "The 2nd Indonesia-Mekong Basin Connect Forum: Energy Security Cooperation on the Region" which was held in the Alam Sutera area, South Tangerang, Banten Thursday, October 16.
"But we want how we can jointly raise the country's profile and then partner," he continued.
Furthermore, Ambassador Santo admitted, it is not easy to bring Indonesian businesses to countries in the Mekong area.
According to him, it is important to introduce the Mekong Area as an area that is profitable for Indonesian businesses, whether it is trading, investment, connectivity, energy and others.
"So far, Indonesia has seen areas outside, such as focusing on China, Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States," said Ambassador Santo.
Even if you look at the Southeast Asia region, it is still focused on traditional partners, such as Malaysia, Singapore. However, non-traditional partners are still lacking," he continued.
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The connect forum activity, as held today, is said to be useful for increasing the exposure of areas in Southeast Asia that were previously under-viewed.
"China has a cooperation mechanism with the Mekong area. We want to encourage how Indonesia is the same as China does, has a cooperation mechanism with the Mekong area as a whole, not only bilateral," explained Ambassador Santo.
"One of the potentials from Indonesia that we can bring to the Mekong Area for introduction is microhydropower. Currently microhydropower in Cambodia is an investment from China. Indonesia is also doing it, or in other fields such as solar panels," said DUbes Santo.