Indonesia Strengthens Cooperation With Vietnam In Strategic Sector Development

Pic : Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government is strengthening cooperation with Vietnam in various information on the development of strategic sectors, in the agriculture, fisheries, tourism, digital economy, energy transition, and cutting-edge industries sectors.

As for the bilateral talks between Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang and the Deputy Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Edi Prio Pambudi, it was revealed that Indonesia and Vietnam plan to strengthen the strategic sector's economic partnership through the latest mastery of technology.

Nguyen said that this opportunity for a strategic sector economic partnership came at the right moment ahead of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Vietnam, which has a strong foundation for friendship.

"As fellow countries that are growing rapidly and ASEAN members. I consider that there are many similarities in Vietnam's efforts with Indonesia that need to be collaborated to take advantage of opportunities from the current dynamics of the world, including mastery of technology in various sectors," he explained.

Nguyen also congratulated Indonesia on Indonesia's success in carrying out the elections and the start of Indonesia's accession discussion to OECD. As a member of the G20 and ASEAN, Nguyen assessed that Indonesia is a strategic partner for Vietnam.

"I want a dialogue at the Deputy Minister's level to discuss various important issues of economic partnership," he said.

Deputy Edi welcomed Vietnam's proposal to strengthen the strategic sector's economic partnership and said that Indonesia is interested in the rapid development of investment in Vietnam's cutting-edge industrial sector, such as electric cars, semiconductors, telecommunications and digital technology, in addition to agricultural and fishery technology.

For this reason, it is important for Indonesia to partner through research and development development (R&D), exchange of job opportunities as well as training for digital and digitary talents and making it easier for each other to open the door to investment.

"For a long time we wanted to form a strategic economic partnership forum with Vietnam," said Edi in his statement quoted on Sunday, March 24, 2024.

Furthermore, Edi said that he had submitted the concept of a partnership agreement through diplomatic channels and hoped that it could be agreed upon soon. The agreement will later become an umbrella to accommodate strategic economic cooperation with concrete output, especially benefits for digital craftsmen and talents to jointly master advanced technology.

In addition, Indonesia and Vietnam have partnered in several forums other than ASEAN, such as IPEF and RCEP, to strengthen economic integration in ASEAN.

Edi also asked Vietnam for help as a member of the Great Mekong Sub-region (GMS), which is a forum for ASEAN's sub-regional cooperation in the ASEAN continuum region, to communicate with other GMS partners.

Indonesia hopes that a more intensive joint dialogue will be held between GMS and other ASEAN sub-regional forums, namely Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

The dialogue of the three ASEAN sub-regional forums is needed for consolidation of development that accelerates economic integration and strengthens ASEAN Centrality. The initiative for the integration of the three forums or abbreviated by BIG ASEAN aspires to build connectivity in the ASEAN Continuous region with islands that have important geographical advantages, Malacca Strait, and Kalimantan Strait as shipping routes.

Furthermore, at the same time, the Indonesian Ambassador in Hanoi Denny Abdi who was also present at the meeting also emphasized that he wanted to immediately follow up on the working visit of Indonesian President Joko Widodo by building stronger bilateral cooperation.

Denny agreed to form a dialogue forum and task force that facilitates the opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. Ambassador Denny said that as friendly countries that were independent through the struggle in 1945, the two aspired to become developed countries by 2045.

According to him, the two countries have a very strong relationship foundation historically as a nation of freedom fighters, so efforts to strengthen strategic economic cooperation are the right decisions and need to be realized immediately.