RI-New Zealand Cooperation Aimed To Increase Threefold: Trade, Agriculture And Energy Are Priorities

JAKARTA - The government, through the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, is said to have reached an agreement with the New Zealand government to increase economic cooperation about three times from 1.5 billion dollars to 4 billion dollars in 2024.

This was emphasized by Airlangga when receiving the visit of the New Zealand Ambassador to Indonesia HE Kevin Burnett ONZM in Jakarta.

"Opportunities for cooperation in the trade, agriculture, industry, energy, and other sectors are some of the things we discussed," he said in an official statement quoted on Thursday, February 3.

According to Airlangga, the target of increasing collaboration in the economic sector is quite important for the two countries. The reason is, both Indonesia and New Zealand each benefit from the establishment of this cooperation.

For example, New Zealand is a producer of various dairy products, such as milk, cheese, and yogurt. Meanwhile, Indonesia still lacks dairy products to meet domestic needs.

"This trade in various products is a form of support for the Indonesian people in increasing capacity in the dairy sector," he said.

Furthermore, Airlangga revealed that the meeting also discussed Indonesia's priorities in the 2022 G20 Presidency.

"The three priority agendas of the G20 carried out by Indonesia, namely global health, energy transition issues and digital transformation, can be collaborated through various concrete projects between Indonesia and New Zealand in the health, agriculture, energy, environment and trade sectors," he explained.

The meeting also discussed the focus on restoring the global economic order after the pandemic to become stronger, inclusive, and collaborative by utilizing digitalization.

"Digitalization is a game changer during a pandemic, and grows rapidly during a pandemic compared to pre-pandemic," he said.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga then invited New Zealand to be a partner in the energy transition program. One of the collaborations that can be developed is geothermal power. The energy sector, especially the transition of fossil energy into new and renewable energy (EBT), is claimed to be a priority agenda for the G20 that has attracted international attention.