Present On Korean National Day, Coordinating Minister Airlangga: RI Relations And South Korea Stronger Andrat

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Coordinating Ministry for the Economy)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto representing the Indonesian Government was present at the commemoration of the Korean National Foundation Day 2022 earlier this week in Jakarta.

On that occasion, Airlangga conveyed to the South Korean Ambassador (South Korea) Park Tae-sung that the Indonesian government hopes to continue to cooperate with the principles of equality, mutual respect, and mutual benefit.

"I believe that the relationship and cooperation between the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of Korea will be stronger and closer," he said in a written statement on Wednesday, October 5.

According to Airlangga, the two countries have successfully completed the ratification of the Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IKCEPA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement.

He said, the IKCEPA agreement which has been ratified by the two countries has further strengthened bilateral relations, especially in the fields of economic cooperation, trade, and investment.

"We want the implementation of the IKCEPA agreement to be carried out in January 2023," he said.

On the same occasion, Ambassador Park Tae-sung stated that Indonesia and Korea's friendship and partnership are getting stronger.

"It is an honor for me to be able to witness substantial progress in diplomacy, defense, economic, cultural, and inter-community relations, especially during the period of President Joko Widodo's administration," he said.

Park Tae-sung also revealed that the bilateral relationship between Korea and Indonesia has been upgraded to a special strategic partnership.

"This can be seen from the strategic partnership in the field of electric vehicles and batteries which is a showcase for mutually beneficial cooperation," he said.

The difficulty of bilateral relations between the two countries was also marked by the existence of a Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation (JCEC) forum. This meeting regularly holds meetings at the ministerial and senior officials level.

In the JCEC RI-ROK forum led by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy of the Republic of Indonesia and the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea, discussed and agreed on cooperation in various fields that were reflected in the four Working Groups, namely investment and trade, industry, energy and mineral resources, and e-commerce.

Meanwhile, in terms of bilateral economic relations, Indonesia-Korea's total trade in 2021 was 18.4 billion US dollars or a significant increase of 37.8 percent compared to the same period 2020.

The Republic of Korea also ranked 7th as Indonesia's largest investor last year with a total foreign direct investment (FDI) worth around 1.6 billion US dollars.