“Never let a good crisis go to waste,” said Winston Churchill, during World War II. These words should well inspire us all who bear the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone needs to exit this situation and build back better.

Today, people in Jakarta can see Puncak in the beautiful blue sky from their homes. There is less PM 2.5 in the air in Bangkok so we can breathe easier. Were there no COVID-19, we would not have witnessed such majestic creatures such as dugongs, sea turtles flourishing along previously touristy beaches, nor would the corals have the chance to recover from trampling feet.

But while COVID-19 may have some beneficial impacts on our environment, the pandemic has greatly affected humans socially and economically. COVID-19 exposed the flaws within the global supply chains of goods and services.

As the two largest economies in ASEAN, with combined gross domestic product (GDP) accounting for over 50 percent of ASEAN, Thailand and Indonesia have enormous potential for collaboration in the post-COVID world. We should explore possibilities to build resilient supply chains together in order to leverage our abundant raw materials, manpower and readily available markets.  

Indonesian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahendra Siregar said on Nov. 11 during a webinar on Thailand-Indonesia relations that Indonesia and Thailand must work together to identify collaboration opportunities to integrate our economies, to become partners in regional and global value chains, to replace our heavy dependence on any particular country.

I applaud and share his long-sighted vision on this. The economies of Thailand and Indonesia have not only similar competitions but also different advantage complementarities.

With Indonesia’s vision 2045 vs. Thailand National Strategy 2037, plus the Making Indonesia 4.0 vs. Thailand 4.0 policy, Thailand and Indonesia can leverage each other’s economic potential to reap advantages and connect the seas with mainland Southeast Asia – connecting the connectivity – in terms of economic, investment, infrastructure and digital platforms.

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