VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

(From left to right) — Minister Erick Thohir, Minister Retno Marsudi, and Minister M Lutfi. (Photo: Indonesian embassy in Beijing)

Indonesia’s Minister of State-owned Enterprises (SOEs), Erick Thohir, and vice chairman of State-Owned Asset Supervision and Administration (SASAC) of China, Ren Hongbin, recently discussed ways to intensify cooperation between SOEs in the two countries.

“I held meetings with them to learn how China has succeeded in reforming and transforming their SOEs to become more efficient, make maximum contributions to society, and become world-class players. Indonesia's SOEs and Chinese SOEs have similar missions and visions for their respective countries," Thohir said at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Trade Minister M Lutfi in Wuyi, Fujian, China, on Friday.

Both Indonesian SOEs and Chinese SOEs have been contributing to their respective societies in addition to helping increase state revenues, he noted.

"However, there are differences between them and us. Imagine, in the list of 500 companies from the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, 48 of them are Chinese SOEs managed by SASAC, while our own SOEs are only 2 on the list - BRI and Mandiri," he pointed out.SASAC is a Chinese government agency that manages 97 Chinese state-owned enterprises.

During the meeting, both parties agreed to continue holding dialogues and creating a more concrete platform for SOE cooperation between the two countries, Thohir said.

To realize sustainable cooperation, SASAC has invited the SOE Ministry and Indonesia's SOEs to have regular meetings with SASAC and Chinese SOEs, he added.

Furthermore, SASAC and the Indonesian ministry will also review several cooperation projects in the electricity sector and world-class fisheries investment cooperation for the eastern region of Indonesia, the minister said//ANT