Foreign Minister: Indonesia Successfully Increased Exports And Investments In The Last 9 Years

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi delivered the Annual Press Statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (PPTM 2024) at the Merdeka Building, Bandung, West Java, on Monday (8/1/2024). (ANTARA/HO-Kemlu RI)

"Indonesia's economic diplomacy over the past nine years has succeeded in increasing exports and investment in the country," said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

When delivering the 2024 Minister of Foreign Affairs' Annual Press Statement (PPTM) in Bandung, Retno said that one of Indonesia's economic diplomacy achievements for the last nearly a decade was strengthening the penetration of the Indonesian strategic industrial product market abroad.

Retno conveyed several examples of industrial products that have been exported, including rail products from PT. INKA to Bangladesh, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand.

In addition, there are also exports of PT. Dirgantara Indonesia to the Philippines, Mexico, Senegal, and Thailand.

In the health sector, Retno said there was PT Bio Farma which distributed vaccines to more than 150 countries and international institutions, such as UNICEF, to meet global vaccine needs.

In addition, Retno said that economic diplomacy has been used to strengthen Indonesian SOE business activities in various countries, including investment in PT Telkom in Hungary, exploration of mineral and gas resources by Pertamina in Algeria for the next 35 years, Mnazi Bay in Tanzania, and in Nigeria, and a project to develop geothermal Energy by Pertamina in Kenya and Turkey.

Indonesia has also opened joint offices or Indonesia Incorporated for BNI, BRI, Bank Mandiri, Telkom, and Garuda Indonesia in Hong Kong, which were officially established last June.

"In the future, Indonesia is also planned to be present in London, Dubai and New York," said Retno.

Economic diplomacy, he said, has also succeeded in producing investment in strategic Indonesian projects, such as MRT Jakarta phase 2 with Japan, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train with China, and the construction of solar power plants in Cirata, West Java, with the United Arab Emirates.

According to Retno, economic diplomacy has also strengthened the role of the Indonesian diaspora, which amounted to around 8.8 million people, as assets. He said that currently the Karand Strategy was being prepared to increase the Strategic Role of Indonesian People abroad.

He explained that Indonesia's trading volume in January to November 2023 was recorded at more than 439 billion US dollars, up almost 24 percent compared to 2014, and experienced a surplus of more than 33 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, the investment value that entered Indonesia from January to September 2023 reached more than 37 billion US dollars, an increase of more than 32 percent compared to 2014, he said.