As it celebrates 75 years of independence, Indonesia is looking to create new opportunities for growth by strengthening its ties with Japan in a bid to become part of the world’s top five economies by 2045.
While Indonesia and Japan face the current coronavirus pandemic, in recent years, one of the key factors driving the bilateral relationship between the two countries is the influx of the skilled labor force being supplied from Indonesia to Japan. “We are concentrating on contributing to the improvement of technical education and its availability,” said Masafumi Ishii, Japan’s ambassador to Indonesia.
With various projects in the pipeline, such as the completion of the 2019 Mass Rapid Transit project in Jakarta and the construction of the new Patimban Deep Sea Port in West Java, Japan hopes to help the country in its economic advancement.
Ishii added that Japan plays a huge role in Indonesia’s export industry as “Japanese companies contribute to 25 percent of the total exports from Indonesia.”
Meanwhile, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Jakarta President Director, Keishi Suzuki said that they are “working hand-in-hand with all Japanese companies and government organizations in Indonesia as they continue to attract new Japanese investments into the country.”
Kanji Tojo, chairman of The Jakarta Japan Club (JJC), added that they proposed a policy that could help Indonesia address issues it might be facing through sharing knowledge between the two nations.
The chief representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency Indonesia (JICA), Shinichi Yamanaka, supports this idea. “The transfer of expertise will aid both Indonesia and Japan’s current situations, opening doors for people in Japan and also further developing the skills of the Indonesian people,” he said.
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