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Jakarta Post

RI, S. Korea set up joint secretariat for investment

The Indonesian and South Korean governments launched a joint secretariat on Tuesday to facilitate economic partnership programs and investment between the nations

Hans David Tampubolon (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, February 29, 2012

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RI, S. Korea set up joint secretariat for investment

T

he Indonesian and South Korean governments launched a joint secretariat on Tuesday to facilitate economic partnership programs and investment between the nations.

The secretariat, to be located at the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry in Jakarta, will be led by a secretary-general from Indonesia and two deputies – one from South Korea and the other from Indonesia.

The first item on the secretariat’s agenda, according to officials, was to hold a meeting for senior officials on March 27 to be attended by senior government officials from Indonesia and South Korea.

During the meeting, working groups covering trade and investment, industrial cooperation, energy and mineral resources, construction and infrastructure, environmental, agriculture, forestry and fisheries and defense and policy support, are expected to report on their work.

“This joint secretariat will assist the Special Committee for South Korea in accelerating investment in Indonesia. There have been many major investments from South Korea that are on the track and running,” Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa told reporters on Tuesday at a press conference.

“For example, POSCO has finished its first phase of investment worth US$6 billion and is now completing its second phase. Hankook has invested around $2 billion and there are many other major investments. All of these show a good trend for the future,” he added.

Hatta said that with the establishment of the joint secretariat, the Indonesian government expected to book $40 billion in bilateral trade with South Korea in 2014 and $100 billion in 2020.

“We are optimistic that these targets can be achieved, considering the fact that Indonesia-South Korea trade amounted to $26.6 billion between January 2011 and November 2011. This is an increase of 45.4 percent compared to the same period in the previous year, which was worth $18.3 billion,” Hatta said.

Based on data from the South Korean Embassy, a large portion of South Korea’s investments in Indonesia, including $763.5 million in 2010 alone, were in the manufacturing sector.

South Korea also invested heavily in Indonesia’s mining sector with $698.1 million in investment in 25 projects throughout 2010.

In total, South Korea has invested $8.3 billion in Indonesia since 1968.

Hatta said that continuity in South Korean investment was important to support Indonesia’s economic acceleration program, known as the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI).

The MP3EI is the government’s program to accelerate economic performance via various capacity-building programs, such as infrastructure development, throughout the archipelago.

The government expects with the success of the MP3EI program, Indonesia will become one of the top five global economic forces by 2025.

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