Foreign Minister Retno: Indonesia Is Open To Qualityy Investments From China

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) Retno Marsudi emphasized that Indonesia is open to quality investments from China.

"Earlier we said that what we want to see is quality investment, namely those who respect ESG, 'Environment, Sustainability and Governance' and there are also UN principles," said Foreign Minister Retno, quoted from Antara, Saturday, August 24.

The statement was made by Retno after she met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the 5th Bilateral Cooperation Joint Commission (Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation) at Wisma Negara Diaoyutai, Beijing.

Indonesia-China economic cooperation, according to Retno, has become a prominent field in the last 10 years.

"Just for investment, if we look at BKPM (Investment Coordinating Board) data in 2014, the value of Chinese investment is only 800 million US dollars but now it is 7.43 billion US dollars," he said.

This figure makes China the second largest investor in Indonesia, after Singapore.

However, in a JCBC discussion, Retno said Foreign Minister Wang said the amount of investment was greater because he had not included Hong Kong investment in Indonesia.

Moreover, said Retno, citing Wang, two-way investments could reach 55 billion US dollars with a proportion of 33 billion US dollars, namely Chinese investment in Indonesia and 22 billion US dollars were investments from Indonesia to China.

"That's according to Foreign Minister Wang Yi's data, because when we talk about investment, it's not only one direction from China to Indonesia but also from Indonesia to China," he said.

Meanwhile, in the trade sector, Retno also showed a significant increase in the last nine years.

Retno quoted China's customs data, which in 2014 showed Indonesia-China trade figures reached 63.66 billion US dollars. Indonesia experienced a deficit of 14.48 billion US dollars.

But nine years later, 2023 data showed that the trade figures between the two countries reached 139.26 billion US dollars.

"Which means that the addition is more than 100 percent and Indonesia has a surplus. In 2023 our surplus was almost 9 billion US dollars and we have experienced a surplus in the past 4 years, according to Chinese customs data," said Retno.

JCBC also discussed, among other things, strengthening cooperation in the field of renewable energy, downstreaming industry, and efforts to build an electric vehicle ecosystem.