VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian and Singaporean governments continued bilateral economic cooperation strengthening through the three “bridges" cooperation. It includes digital bridge, infrastructure bridge, and travel bubble bridge. The travel bubble is opening the boundary zone to allow citizens to cross borders as long as not going beyond certain limits.

Aside from tightening bilateral relations, the cooperation also strengthened the two countries' existence in ASEAN and beyond. That was stated by Economic Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto in an official statement on Friday.

Minister Hartarto said the Indonesia-Singapore digital bridge was expected to realize with Batam as the center for Indonesian data center and digital industry development. 

Previously on March 2, 2021, the Indonesian government had inaugurated the Special Economic Zone Nongsa Digital Park in Batam. The Nongsa Digital Park is expected to be an entry point for international IT companies from Singapore and many other countries as well as to save Indonesian foreign exchange in digital business for around 20 to 30 trillion annually with the biggest contribution from data center and international education.

Then, the infrastructure bridge will begin with the development of Batam-Bintan bridge across 6.4 km in 2022. Later, Batam-Bintan bridge will be divided into three plans namely Batam Island, Tanjungsauh Island, and Bintan Island.

Airlangga said the bridge will ease the business people in Bintan to send their agricultural products to Batam, which will be exported to Singapore or other countries. Also, the Batam-Bintan bridge is expected to increase connectivity from Bintan and Batam to Singapore and vice versa.

Meanwhile, the travel bubble bridge aims to boost the tourism sector with Bintan as a tourism destination for Singaporean visitors. About this, Indonesia and Singapore agreed to form a team discussing the travel bubble between Singapore and Indonesia. The travel bubble will begin with a travel arrangement agreement between Singapore and Batam-Bintan-Karimun areas for business people and tourists. Airlangga Hartarto added, with the travel arrangement, the business people and tourists will be allowed to travel freely around Batam-Bintan-Karimun-Singapore and vice versa by complying with the tight health protocol.

The cooperation was discussed in a virtual meeting of Minister Airlangga Hartarto, Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, Singaporean Ambassador for Indonesia Anil Kumar Nayar, and Indonesian Ambassador for Singapore Suryopratomo on Friday.