"This is in accordance with the Making Indonesia 4.0 roadmap, which is one of the priority programs to attract global companies to invest in the country," Industrial Minister Airlangga Hartarto noted in a statement received by Antara here, Thursday.
Cooperation with Japan can provide technology transfer to local companies, the minister remarked after meeting with Saitama Prefecture Governor Kiyoshi Ueda at the Ministry of Industry, Jakarta.
At the meeting, the Saitama Prefecture delegation pointed out various areas of potential that can be explored by Indonesian and Japanese industrial players.
"Saitama is one of the locations of Honda`s parent factories. Nissan`s R&D Center is also there. In addition, the prefecture is strong in the pharmaceutical as well as food and beverage industries," he remarked.
According to Airlangga, Saitama is the fifth contributing province to Japan`s gross domestic product.
"The Saitama prefecture administration will facilitate cooperation in the industrial sector, including the development of human resource competencies. In Saitama, there are companies that develop signaling systems to support MRT. They invite our engineers to learn such technology in Saitama," he remarked.
On the occasion, Airlangga asserted the Indonesian government`s commitment to developing the manufacturing industry in future.
"We are determined to continue to create a more conducive business climate by launching several economic policy packages and facilitating business permit processes. There is also Making Indonesia 4.0 as a strategy to implement the industrial revolution 4.0," he added.
In an effort to create a skilled workforce, including the ones ready to enter the industrial revolution era 4.0, to meet today`s industry demands, the Ministry of Industry has launched a vocational education program with a link and match scheme. The program also involves industries in several provinces in Indonesia.
"We have established cooperation with 609 industries and 1,753 vocational schools in this program," he explained.
The industry minister is optimistic that his meeting with the Saitama Prefecture governor would support Japanese investment in Indonesia, especially in the small, medium, and large-scale industrial sectors.
In 2017, Japanese investment was the second-largest in Indonesia, valued at US$8.4 billion.
Meanwhile, during the January-April 2018 period, the realization of Japanese investment was the second-largest, valued at $1.4 billion, spread across 375 projects.
Reporting by Sella Panduarsa Gareta
Editing by Libertina W Ambari
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Yosep Hariyadi
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
