Trade Minister Lutfi Visits US To Discuss Investment To Vaccines

JAKARTA - Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi emphasized his commitment to strengthening the national economic recovery through increased trade and investment with the United States.

Increasing investment in various sectors and the need for national vaccines became a serious discussion during a working visit to Uncle Sam's country.

"This working visit to the United States is a step to accelerate national economic recovery through increased trade and investment," said Muhammad Luthfi in a statement quoted by Antara, Wednesday, July 14.

The working visit was carried out with Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia for nine days from 9-18 July 2021.

The United States, said Trade Minister Lutfi, is one of Indonesia's main trading partners with total trade between the two countries reaching 27.2 billion US dollars in 2020.

Of this value, Indonesia's exports to the United States amounted to 18.62 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, Indonesia's imports from the United States amounted to 8.58 billion US dollars.

Indonesia's trade balance against the United States experienced a surplus of 10.04 billion US dollars throughout 2020.

On the first day of activity, Sunday, July 11, they immediately held a meeting with Indonesian representatives in the country.

The meeting discussed the role of the digital economy in the national economy and the potential of the digital economy sector in Indonesia.

Minister Luthfi also encouraged Indonesian representative officials in the United States to explore the country's digital economy potential in the country.

"The contribution of Indonesia's digital economy is still relatively small to the national economy. However, currently, the growth of the digital economy has grown very rapidly," said Lutfi.

He revealed that Indonesia's digital economy has the potential to increase up to eight times by 2030.

The following day, Monday, July 12, the two ministers together with the CEO of the Indonesia Investment Authority, Ridha Wirakusumah, held a meeting with the COO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, David Marchick.

They discussed sovereign wealth funds and the potential to increase investment in various sectors in Indonesia, including the technology sector; gender and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); and climate change and COVID-19 vaccines.

Furthermore, Minister Lutfi also held a meeting with the CEO of the US-Asean Business Council Alex Feldman.

The meeting discussed various trade and investment issues, global trade trends, and handling the COVID-19 pandemic. From the results of the meeting, they agreed to increase economic cooperation between Indonesia and the United States to the next level.

Ending the agenda for the second working day, Minister Lutfi together with the CEO of the Indonesia Investment Authority held a meeting with the Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation, Makhtar Diop.

On the occasion, Minister Lutfi conveyed his commitment to accelerate the achievement of carbon-neutral targets through environmentally-friendly industries.

In addition, the meeting also discussed cooperation in developing environmentally friendly metal industries and cooperation in handling the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.

"Indonesia is currently transforming from a raw goods-producing country to a high-tech and value-added country producing goods. For this reason, the government will continue to encourage the development of environmentally friendly industries in Indonesia, especially in the metal industry," said Lutfi.