JAKARTA - The Indonesian government appreciates Singapore's commitment to continue working together and investing in the country. This commitment was also affirmed at a bilateral meeting at the office of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, on Friday 26 March.
The meeting was attended by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs (Menko Ekonomi) Airlangga Hartarto and Singaporean Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) Vivian Balakrishnan. Singapore investment itself recorded a record high last year, in 2020.
Singapore's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reached USD 9.8 billion, an increase of 34 percent compared to 2019, and is the highest on record in the last 6 years.
"Our office is always open to joint initiatives and collaborations to continue promoting business opportunities in Indonesia and Singapore", said Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, at the meeting, quoted from a written statement received by VOI, Saturday, March 27.
This meeting is a continuation of the results of the Indonesia-Singapore ministerial meeting which was previously held virtually with the Singaporean Minister of Trade and Industry. This is also a series of visits by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore to several ASEAN member countries.
"I hope Indonesia can continue to work with the Singapore Government, especially in deepening economic cooperation between the two countries and overcoming the economic challenges caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic", said Airlangga.
On the same occasion, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said that his party is committed to working closely with Indonesia, in bilateral and multilateral relations. He also mentioned that cooperation is needed to recover from the excesses of the pandemic.
"We cannot recover alone, but we need the role of all regions to work together", he said.
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The two ministers discussed several important topics. Among them are preparations and deliverables for the Leaders Retreat meeting between the Prime Minister of Singapore and the President of the Republic of Indonesia.
There are several important things from the bilateral economic cooperation between Indonesia and Singapore, as discussed in the Ministerial Meeting which was held on 15 October 2020 regarding the Six Bilateral Economic Working Groups (6WG), namely 1) Batam-Bintan-Karimun and Special Economic Zones Other (KEK), 2) investment, 3) employment, 4) transportation, 5) agribusiness, and 6) tourism.
In this agenda, several developments are discussed. A number of collaborations, such as the Batam, Bintan, and Karimun-Singapore Development Integration; Digital Industry Cooperation Initiative; Tech-Talent Development Program Cooperation, Singapore-Bintan Travel Bubble Initiatives; Kendal Industrial Estate.
Also, the possibility of cooperation in infrastructure, both hard and soft, the development of an alumina smelter in the Galang Batang KEK, the construction of the Batam-Bintan bridge, and the development of Maintenance Repair & Overhaul (MRO) KEK Batam Aero Technic, as well as the Leaders Retreat are items on the agenda. meeting.
On this occasion, the Coordinating Minister for Airlangga also wanted to take this opportunity to seek Singapore's support for the Indonesian G20 Presidency in 2022. Indonesia hopes that the G20 cooperation can carry a positive message along with efforts to overcome current major challenges, especially in global economic recovery.
"I want to close by reaffirming the strong commitment of the Indonesian government to continue working with Singapore. I believe that there are still many opportunities that the two countries must take advantage of in the coming years", concluded Airlangga.
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