Indonesia-Singapore partnership to open 4,000 jobs in Central Java

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) have issued a joint statement, that a cooperation project being built in Central Java is estimated to create 4,000 jobs.

Prime Minister Lee and President Jokowi issued the joint statement at Wisma Perdamaian here on Monday.

The visiting prime minister said there were many Singapore companies investing in Indonesia not only in the free trade areas of Batam-Bintan-Karimun (BBK) in Riau Islands, but also in other areas in the country.

“Including in the Kendal Industrial Park to be officially commissioned today,” he said.

According to Lee, the project in Kendal is an important cooperation project with big scale that could create 4,000 new jobs in Semarang especially in Kendal.

He said the cooperation project constitutes a step of win win outcome between the two countries.

“We also discussed development of cooperation in other sectors including tourism and we agree to increase tourist traffics mutually beneficial to the two countries,” he said.

The two countries are designing joint destinations enabling tourists to visit to Singapore and Indonesia in a one trip.

Lee hopes that the signing of the cooperation agreement on the tourism sector between Indonesia and Singapore, would lead to opening the route of tourist boats to boost development of cruise industry.

“We encourage capacity building of Indonesia in hospitality and tourism sector,” he said.

Both sides also discussed investment cooperation between the two countries, such as in the energy sector like energy that could be contributed to Indonesias 35,000 megawatt power generating program.

Lee suggested to Jokowi, who agreed, the forming of Indonesia-Singapore Business Council to give added value to the partnership of the two countries.