The BRI Brings Benifits to Indonesian People

During the state visit recently of my president, President Joko Widodo,to Beijing this October, to attend the third BRF as well, both leaders, my president and President Xi Jinping, had committed to deepen our comprehensive strategic partnership.

 Xi Jinping: The Governance of China 

So we will strengthen cooperation,among others let me mention a few of them, on stability of the industrial and supply chain,  sustainability of development, food security, energy transition, high technology, because China is quite advanced in that, and emerging industries, sometimes we call it innovation industry, I think China is a leader in that industry as well.

Of course, Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train is only an example of how the cooperation between two great nations and two leaders results. It brings concrete benefits to our people, to strengthen connectivity, not only infrastructural connectivity, but people-to-people connectivity as well, and at the same time, promote economic development. 

Now, moving forward, we will continue to work together on some of the industries such as EV industry production, because we are rich in the materials of the EV industry, construction of our new capital, we call it Ibu Kota Nusantara, and North Kalimantan Industrial Park, because this is also part of the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Global Maritime Falcum.

I think I already mentioned the Four Corridor economics as a synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Global Maritime Falcum, and non-economic corridors such as the high-speed train Bandung-Jakarta. Of course, we would like to see that after Bandung-Jakarta, there will be other cities as well to be linked to the high-speed train.

And “Two Countries, Twin Parks”. With that synergy, it already reflected in the increase and strengthening of cooperation between Indonesia and China, not only in the investment sector, but as well as in trade sector, the volume of trade between the two countries increased substantially, last year, almost 150 billion US dollars, according to the customs, China Customs，and from January to September, almost 100 billion US dollars.

So this is one of the cooperation we would like to strengthen, because through increase of trade, we can guarantee that our economic growth will continue to increase; if economic growth is to increase, it will bring benefit to people, people in Indonesia, and people in China. And looking forward, not only Indonesia, but cms as well, because now cms is the largest trading partner of China, and China is the biggest trading partner of cms, and Indonesia is the leader in cms.

So Indonesia and China, cms and China, I think if we continue to strengthen bilateral relations in those areas, economic development, investment, trade, you can guarantee that in the future, these trends will continue to be strengthened and to increase.

cms countries consist of 10 members,Indonesia is one of the original member of cms. And cms countries as well have enjoyed support and cooperation in infrastructure development in the context of BRI.

During the 30th anniversary of cms-China relations, the leaders of cms and China, exactly two years ago, decided to elevate the relationship from strategic partners to comprehensive strategic partners. No. 1 is the synergy, synergy of the program, BRI and the national development of each of the members of cms, to include Indonesia. And No. 2 is equitablity between partners, or among partners.

And No. 3 is sustainability. Then we can guarantee that BRI’s synergy with cms, with Indonesia, be continued in the many years to come. In this sense, it is important that  BRI is in line with the national priorities of each of the countries, to include cms member countries, whether to strengthen connectivity, or to increase economic development.

As our president mentioned during the third BRF a few weeks ago, we hope that BRI will continue to address regional and global challenges, guided by the principles of equality, mutually beneficial relations, and the sustainability in our region.

Of course, China’s support to the establishment of the RCEP, as well as to the cms centrality, is significant, as already mentioned by our leader as well. However, we have to remain committed as well to  aintaining regional stability, so as to create a stable and conducive environment of economic growth.

The recent years remain challenging for global economy, and the world has experienced supply shocks, and food and energy crises. But cms economies, led by China, general felt these pressures less than elsewhere if we compare to other regions. This year, cms is expected to contribute to almost 70 % of global growth.

I think Chinese modernization also sets an example for the rest of the world, especially for the developing countries.Now we call it modernization is the advancement of the technology.So for a country with huge population, like China, it is not easy to develop the economy or other aspect. It is very challenging.

However, through Chinese style of modernization, you are able to present another approach or sample to developing countries, because you are a developing country, and you are able to develop your economy.

This is the part of the coming China in the modernization era. China has been successful in transforming its country and society, which inspired many developing countries, to include Indonesia, The key point is for the last 10 year, China has been able to elevate the population out of poverty, you already enter another stage of development, you can call it modernization era. But this is the fact. And I think some countries, to include Indonesia, would like to emulate that.

Of course, our cooperation should be a continued platform as well, to share the best practice, knowledge, and technology, and to also upport or lesson learn from your process. Then we can emulate to modernize Indonesia.

We are in that process as well. With the size of population now almost 300 million people, Indonesia is committed to strengthening its downstream industry. We’ve just being doing that so far, in order to produce high-value export commdodities. And then of course the implementation of this policy is not only aimed at increasing national income, but at the same time also to put Indonesia in the supply chain and elevate its position as a developing country. This is what we can emulate from you. This is the thing that you've been doing so far to modernize China. So we would like to emulate that. In addition, given that Indonesia has so many islands, as already mentioned to you, more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia focuses as well on infrastructure development. Indonesia also learns from other countries, to include China, to build and modernize its infrastructure, in order to achieve Indonesia's modernization. So that's how I see the Chinese modernization through that process.

Together then we can elevate as well the modernization of our region. And at the end of the day, we can contribute as well to the better economic development, or global economic development. I would like to see that the young people in Indonesia, in cms, and in China, able to establish a sort of social media community that will share among them the positive vibe, because with a positive vibe, you are able to create a positive energy. Then it will have a huge impact on our society as well, because the young people is the leader of the future. we are all brothers and sisters.

Author ：Djauhari Oratmangun