Entering The Fifth Decade, Bilateral Relations Between Indonesia And South Korea Continue To Be Improved

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Doc. Coordinating Ministry for the Economy)

JAKARTA - Being the 7th largest investor country in Indonesia, with South Korea's total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2023 was recorded at around 2.5 billion US dollars, an increase of more than 200 million US dollars or 8.7 percent compared to 2022.

Entering the fifth decade in the bilateral partnership between Indonesia and South Korea, the total value of bilateral trade between the two countries reached 20.8 billion US dollars in 2023.

"We believe that our cooperation in the future will increase and develop. I hope Minister Ahn can help further strengthen and deepen industrial, trade and energy transition cooperation between Indonesia and Korea," said Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, Wednesday, May 22.

As is known, in July 2023, the 2nd Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation (JCEC) meeting was held in Seoul.

During the meeting, several important results were achieved, including cooperation in developing nickel derivative investment for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, access to the Indonesian fruit market to South Korea.

Furthermore, the expansion of Lotte's petrochemical factory, the construction of the Krakatau Steel-Posco steel cluster, the expansion of access to the Indonesian MSME market through South Korea's e-platform, as well as cooperation related to the energy transition and mitigation of global climate change which includes Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology cooperation, hydrogen/amonia energy production, and hydropower development.

According to Airlangga, there are several ongoing collaborations such as the expansion of Lotte's petrochemical factory and the construction of the Krakatau Steel-Posco steel cluster, but there are also several cooperation agreements that still need to be encouraged to be implemented immediately.

Other discussions also discussed cooperation in developing the EV ecosystem through Hyundai and LG Energy Solution investments in Indonesia.

"I hope that the EV ecosystem can go deeper and of course later with Korea ask for help to talk to America so that the IRA Law can open a market for products from cooperation between LG and Hyundai to enter the American market," said Airlangga.

On this occasion, South Korea also conveyed opportunities for cooperation related to the development of nuclear power plants through the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (Kaeri, which has developed a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology that is designed to be safe and produce lower carbon footprint than conventional reactors.

The small-scale nuclear modular reactor is an alternative solution to supply electrical energy, especially in remote or isolated areas.

"At the 3rd JCEC meeting this year, it was Indonesia's turn to host, so on this occasion we invited Minister Ahy to hold a JCEC meeting in July in Jakarta," said Airlangga.