VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia and Singapore agreed to strengthen cooperation in three priority sectors, namely capital market, digital economy, and tourism and supporting infrastructure. This is one of the points of agreement in the 2nd Indonesia-Singapore Business Council -ISBC Meeting organized by the Investment Coordinating Board -BKPM along with Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry -Kadin in cooperation with the Economic Development Board -EDB Singapore and the Singapore Business Federation -SBF at the Office of BKPM in Jakarta on last Thursday (5/4). The meeting was one of the follow-ups of the implementation of the ISBC’s Memorandum of Understanding -MoU signed on July 28, 2017. Based on the MoU, it was agreed that the ISBC members' meetings are held twice a year alternately in Jakarta and Singapore. Indonesia-Singapore Business Council -ISBC is a joint venture between Indonesian and Singaporean businesspeople. Its establishment is supported by BKPM and EDB. ISBC members are top 10 entrepreneurs from Indonesia and Singapore respectively.

Head of the Investment Coordinating Board, Thomas Lembong said that the three sectors agreed were chosen so that both countries could benefit and optimize the potential. He explained that Indonesia can take advantage of Singapore which has been known as a financial hub in Asia to get finance from investment projects in the tourism sector and the digital economy. He also explained that in the first ISBC closed-door meeting held on September 7, 2017 in Singapore, it was agreed that from six sectors that become excellent, only three sectors will be prioritized in the medium term, namely capital markets, digital economy, and tourism along with its supporting infrastructure. Thomas Lembong added that from these activities, the delegation is expected to get direct information about potential projects in the tourism and infrastructure sectors.

From the data owned by BKPM, the realization of investment from Singapore for the period 2012-2017 reached $39 billion dollars. This realization listed Singapore as the largest investor in Indonesia. The realization of investment figures from Singapore is quite volatile; the position of 2016 which reached $9.1 billion dollars decreased to $8.4 billion US dollars in 2017. Singapore investors invested mainly in the transportation sector, warehousing and telecommunications, plant and plantation and paper industry. In terms of location, the distribution of Singapore's investment is fairly evenly marked by 51 percent outside Java and 49 percent in Java.