Taiwan and Indonesia are economically complementary and should strengthen their cooperation, a special envoy of Indonesian President Joko Widodo said yesterday.
Ang Tjeon Ming, founder of Jakarta-based Mayapada Group, who visited Taipei earlier this week, said that Indonesia began trading with Taiwan earlier than it did with China, and that it is reasonable for high-paying Taiwan to cooperate with Indonesia, which provides huge low-cost labor resources.
Taiwan has taken the right path by launching its “New Southbound Policy” targeting Southeast Asia, he said.
Possible areas of economic cooperation with Indonesia include fishery, finance, manufacturing, medicine, technology and tourism, he said.
Jokowi attaches great importance to Taiwan and is willing to receive every Taiwanese investor, Ang said.
However, although Jakarta has sped up the processing of foreign investment applications, more needs to be done to attract foreign investors, especially helping them to find the “right partners,” he said.
Ang said he is planning to set up a “Taiwan Desk” to help investors deal with any problems and disputes they might encounter.
He said he would provide NT$100 million (US$3.2 million) to support training programs for young Taiwanese and promote exchanges with their Indonesian counterparts.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met with Ang during his visit. He said they discussed issues concerning bilateral cooperation on medical and health services, agriculture and shipbuilding.
Ang was ranked by Forbes as Indonesia’s 10th-richest person last year.
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