President Joko Widodo: Consistently There Must Be Design That Makes Other Countries Depend On Us

Documentation - Screenshot - President Joko Widodo Opens Kompas 100 CEO Forum/VIA ANTARA

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo encourages the creation of a design that can make other countries depend on a product made in Indonesia. "The design that we must consistently do continues, is to make other countries depend on us," Jokowi said in his remarks at the Kompas100 CEO Forum 2022 event, at the State Palace, Jakarta, Antara, Friday, December 2. Jokowi said that Indonesia must be optimistic, because it has great potential and strength, both natural resources and human resources. "Later there will be a demographic bonus in 2030, an estimated 201 million of our productive staff will emerge," Jokowi explained. In addition, he said, Indonesia has a large market not only in the country, but also in ASEAN which reaches 600 million people. "This is a force that we often do not realize. And I must continue to remind you, including our position on the world trade route. This strength must be remembered in order to build a big strategy for the country's business, a big strategy for the country's economy, so that we can achieve the vision we want," he said. Regarding making other countries depend on Indonesia, Jokowi emphasized that he has repeatedly checked which countries depend on Indonesia. Based on his monitoring, many countries have dependence on Indonesia. "As soon as we stop the coal for only two weeks, there are a lot of calls to me, the Head of State, the Prime Minister, the President. Oh, this depends (to Indonesia), depending, depending, depending, depending, oh a lot, I was surprised too," said Jokowi. Apart from coal, many countries also depend on Indonesia's CPO. According to the President, once Indonesia stopped CPO exports, many were wondering, including the IMF and the World Bank. " “ Why stop? Yes, because I have to prioritize my people first. I can't give it to you, then we don't have oil. I can't, for sure, I can stop. Many say wrong, it's up to you, it's okay what people think differently. If I'm the people I put forward," said Jokowi. As a result, said Jokowi, currently the stability of cooking oil prices can be maintained. He said that in the two markets he reviewed recently, the price of cooking oil was still Rp. 14,000 and some others were below this price. He emphasized that Indonesia should not only be a branch in terms of investment and import destinations. According to him, Indonesia must be able to design an economic ecosystem so that other countries can really depend on Indonesian products. The President saw that there are countries in Latin America that have made the wrong use of momentum so that their countries only become branches, not the main objectives of investment, and are unable to make products that make other countries dependent. The President then asked all parties to follow Taiwan and Korea's example of being able to focus on making products that then make other countries dependent. "I gave a Taiwan example, why did he jump. Only one example, they made chips. Focus, be strategic and competitive. Only there. And everything depends on this product. It's just one product, not yet other products," he said. South Korea has also done the same thing which makes digital components so that large companies in the United States all depend on South Korea. Jokowi emphasized that Indonesia could also be like that because Indonesia has nickel, copper, bauxite, tin, with great potential. He gave an example of Indonesia being able to produce electric vehicle batteries and make other countries dependent. "This is what we have to catch. So, I calculated, how much do I count? 60 percent of electric vehicles will depend on our EV Battery. 60 percent of the market share in the world. This is our big strength later," he explained.