VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto stated the Indonesian G20 presidency encourages concrete steps for three priority areas, namely the global health architecture, digital economic transformation and energy transition.

Airlangga Hartarto in a written statement last Thursday 17 February said in the health sector an important aspect promoted by the Indonesian Presidency is the global response and inclusiveness in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for the affordability and accessibility of vaccines and strengthening the global health architecture.

Regarding digital transformation efforts, Airlangga said Indonesia emphasized the importance of the availability of digital infrastructure or hardware such as fiber optic networks so that various digital platforms can be affordable and easily accessible. He gave an example of a government program, namely the Pre-Employment Card as part of digital transformation in the form of a digital training mechanism to improve the quality of Indonesian human resources. Training in the form of skilling, reskilling and upskilling is done digitally. The Pre-Employment Card is also a semi-social assistance platform for people affected by the pandemic.

For the energy transition, Indonesia is reviewing the appropriate financing mechanism in order to realize transformation steps that are driven by investment in renewable energy. This sector is being developed in various regions in Indonesia, including related to hydropower and diesel/ carbon capture and storage technology, all of which require a large amount of financing. Airlangga Hartarto added in line with the Glasgow Climate Pact, Indonesia has also launched an innovative financing scheme in order to accelerate the closure of coal-based power plants.

He revealed, Indonesia is cooperating with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through the Energy Transition Mechanism and utilizing ammonia gas for power generation. For that innovative financing solutions and schemes and international support are really needed and this is in line with the Glasgow's commitment. The focus of the Indonesian government regarding the electricity aspect is affordability and availability of technology and commitment to implementation.