By Thomas Chang, International Affairs Department of TEEMA
On the morning of August 10th, Chairman Lee of TEEMA led President Joseph Lin, Vice President Roger Liao, and Project Manager Thomas Chang to pay the courtesy visit to Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (IETO) and to greet Representative Dr. Budi Santoso, Director of Investment Department Ali Fauzi, Analyst Yu Da, and senior assistant Irene Pan.
In response to issues such as members' investment in electric vehicles in Indonesia, Chairman Lee exchanged opinions with Representative Dr. Budi Santoso on the latest economic and trade situation in Indonesia.
Chairman Lee said that Hon Hai Chairman Young Liu announced to invest in the Indonesian electric vehicle market in June this year. Hon Hai's move to deploy the electric vehicle market in Indonesia will also encourage members of TEEMA to go to Indonesia to participate in the ICT and electric vehicle industry.
In July last year, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) took the lead in signing a memorandum of cooperation with Berkah Kawasan Manyar Sejahtera (BKMS), operating the Jipei Industrial Park in Indonesia. Indonesia serves as one of a key development countries of Taiwan New Southbound Policy. Its demographic dividend and vast emerging markets will become the best choice for Taiwanese businessmen to invest and expand business opportunities in local markets, whether in ICT industry, public infrastructure, hardware manufacturing, and electric vehicles. At the same time, Chairman Lee also emphasized that Indonesia is just like the developing mainland China in the 1980s and 1990s, and it is believed that Indonesia's economy will thrive in the next few decades. Indonesia has a natural port as its export advantage, and factors such as labor-intensive and abundant natural resources will inevitably become a major incentive for Taiwanese businessmen to invest in.
Representative Dr. Budi Santoso also said that Indonesia's current economic development is similar to the early stage of Taiwan's economic development. Many public infrastructure, railways, roads, and other facilities are relatively incomplete, but the demographic dividend and abundant natural resources are the mainstay of Indonesia's economy. To boost the domestic economic growth, it also exports intensive labors to other countries to develop its domestic economy. In the future, it is also hoped that other countries will come to Indonesia to invest in technology industries, public transportation, and infrastructure, etc., to stimulate the domestic demand market and create the vast domestic job opportunities. The economic development model of Taiwan and mainland China can be set as the best example for Indonesia in the future, hoping to promote the cooperation between Taiwan and Indonesia in the ICT and electric vehicle industry supply chain, and also wishing to provide more business opportunities for Taiwanese enterprises to invest and cooperate in Indonesia.
TEEMA will continue to maintain close ties with representative offices in Taiwan to assist member manufacturers to invest in the global markets.
