Indonesia is seeking opportunities to cooperate with India in the digital economy and e-commerce space."New Delhi (ANTARA News) - Indonesia plans to cooperate with India in forming a digital economy and supporting e-commerce.
"Indonesia is seeking opportunities to cooperate with India in the digital economy and e-commerce space. The digital economy and e-commerce in India is considered to be highly prospective," Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Thomas Trikasih Lembong said here on Tuesday.
Lembong said that India and Indonesia are experiencing a period of digital economic growth.
"There are digital companies growing in both countries. In Indonesia, we have heard of Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Gojek. Such digital companies are also growing in India," he remarked.
He claimed that several Indonesian e-commerce players use programmer and coding services from India.
"Indonesia is experiencing a shortage of programmers in the wake of the regions booming digital economy. The same happens in India, but the lack of programmers can be resolved," he noted.
He pointed out that this level of cooperation could be developed because India had decades of experience in developing information technology.
"I see this cooperation as very prospective," he stated.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also raised the issue of tourism cooperation possibilities and opportunities for Indonesia to cooperate in the Bollywood film industry.
"The president asked me to talk about e-commerce and the digital economy," he said.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) earlier invited Indian businessmen to invest in the pharmaceutical industry and the information technology and automotive sectors in Indonesia.
"Indonesia invites India to step up investment cooperation in the pharmaceutical, information technology, and automotive fields," the Indonesian head of state said in a joint press statement issued following a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi at Hyderabad House, here, Monday.
He lauded the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on trade standardization between the two nations.
The MoU will help boost bilateral trade and support economic cooperation, as well as people to people contact, Jokowi stressed.
India is an important partner of Indonesia, and the bilateral ties in the political, economic, and socio-cultural fields between the two countries have been strengthening over time, according to him.
"At todays meeting, we discussed comprehensively our efforts to step up economic cooperation," he noted.
Indonesia wished to increase trade with India and diversify its exported products.
"We also discussed efforts to intensify cooperation in investment," Jokowi remarked.
Indonesia considered cooperation in pharmaceutical raw materials with India a priority, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno LP Marsudi said.
"So, this is quite a strategic cooperation, and we will try to explore it further and look forward to concrete implementation," she stated.
So far, Indonesia has imported various pharmaceutical raw materials from India.
"But we are currently encouraging India to invest in pharmaceutical raw materials in Indonesia," she added.
(Uu.A063/INE/KR-BSR/O001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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