VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government continues to improve bilateral cooperation with South Korea in various fields, especially in the industrial sector, both increasing trade and investment. To open up greater opportunities for synergy between the two countries, the Indonesian Minister of Industry (Menperin RI) Airlangga Hartarto held a meeting with South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy (MoTIE), Sung Yun Mo.

"This meeting was to follow up the leaders' meeting, which also followed up on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in September 2017," the Minister of Industry said after the meeting in Seoul on Wednesday (26/6) local time.

In general, according to Airlangga, the business and economic sectors of Indonesia and South Korea have made a lot of progress. Some of the strategic cooperation that has been carried out includes joint task forces to promote economic cooperation.

"We have the Indonesia-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2019 which targets bilateral trade up to USD30 billion in the next 2022," he added.

According to Airlangga, the Ministry of Industry currently has a total of 10 international cooperation agreements with various partners in the Republic of Korea. The six agreements include cooperation between units within the Ministry of Industry and government institutions in Korea.

"In general, the level of implementation of the Ministry of Industry's cooperation with partners in the Republic of Korea is very good, namely nine out of 10 agreements have been implemented," he said.

On that occasion, there was also a signing of further cooperation between the Ministry of Industry and the National Research Council for Economics, Humanity, and Social Sciences or the National Research Council for South Korea's Economic, Humanities and Social Sciences (NRC). "This is a derivative agreement on industry-related MoU 4.0 which was signed on September 10, 2018," he said.

The Minister of Industry explained, the continued cooperation would facilitate the placement of technical experts, including holding industrial implementation 4.0 which would be carried out in five industrial sectors, namely automotive, food and beverage, textile and textile, chemical and electronic products.

"As a follow-up to the MoU, we signed an agreement on the technical cooperation framework with NRC," he said.

The Minister of Industry also explained the development of industrial investment from South Korea in Indonesia. For example, the Posco steel industry company has invested in the past four years to produce 3 million tons of steel from the blast furnace process to the slab. "We are discussing the 10 million steel roadmap in Cilegon for the year 2025, then building a downstream industry with products such as CRC," he explained.

Meanwhile, in the chemical industry, Lotte Chemicals has conducted a ground breaking plant with an investment of USD4 billion. "It is expected that this plant will operate in 2020. Meanwhile, we are engaged with Hyundai Motor Corporation about its investment plans in Indonesia. In principle, we provide support for this investment, "he added.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Industry continues to support increased collaboration in five industrial sectors according to Making Indonesia 4.0's priority to conduct deeper cooperation. "One of the considerations is the Indonesian mobile market which amounts to 60 million. In addition, the digital economy is highly developed in Indonesia with the support of the younger generation, "said the Minister of Industry.

Airlangga believes that cooperation between Korea and Indonesia can be done to explore the structure of the industry, especially to support the cellphone and IoT industry. Moreover, with the current conditions of trade competition, there are several telecommunications equipment industries that compete for the 5G market, including Korean companies.

On the same occasion, Minister Sung Yun Mo conveyed, Indonesia is an important partner country for Korea. With the creation of a conducive business climate, a number of industrial investments from South Korea are still expanding.

"Regarding Posco which continues to expand in the steel industry sector, we thank you for the smooth running of the project. Then, related to Lotte, we hope to continue to get support for the continuation. Through this investment, it will sustain development in Indonesia and Korea. So, there is a win-win result, "he said.

Minister Sung Yun Mo added, strengthening the cooperation between the two countries not only in the steel and chemical sectors, but also targeting the automotive sector. This is important because it can strengthen industrial competitiveness in Indonesia.

"Automotive cooperation also opens opportunities for component suppliers, with a large number of vehicle component needs, this can also strengthen SMIs in Indonesia. This cooperation is very meaningful, because it will increase competitiveness, and contribute to a healthier industrial ecosystem, "he added. (kemenperin)