Singaporean Prime Minister Laurence Wong expresses the interest and commitment of several Singaporean companies to invest in Indonesia, including the potential of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), industrial estates, and power plants in Batam, Bintan, and Karimun (BBK) zone.
“We see opportunities for data center development in Singapore and Indonesia with the high growth of start-up technology companies. In this case, the power source requires green energy supply. Indonesia has green energy potential such as hydro, wind, geothermal and solar,” Wong said in a statement on Wednesday, August 28,2024.
“Indonesia also has great CCS potential, and Singapore will be a CCS user, which is another great potential. We hope to work closely together,” he added.
In his meeting with Indonesian Minister of Investment Rosan P. Roeslani, both parties discussed several important topics, including geopolitical conditions and investment potential in infrastructure, health, industrial estates, renewable energy, education, food security and manufacturing.
Rosan emphasized the importance of Singapore as Indonesia’s partner in the economy and investment, considering that Singapore has always ranked first in investment realization in Indonesia for the last 10 years.
Wong also expressed his optimism about Indonesia’s current economic growth amidst high geopolitical tension.
He expressed the need to increase closer and complementary bilateral relations between countries, including Indonesia and Singapore.
Rosan said that the Indonesian government provides super tax deduction incentives for investors who provide training and vocational facilities.
“In essence, the Indonesian government is also focused on improving human capital,” he said.
At the end of the meeting, PM Wong conveyed his plan to visit Jakarta ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Prabowo Subianto as the 8th President of Indonesia.
MoU with Raffles Education Limited
In the visit to Singapore on August 27, 2024, Rosan also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chairman and CEO of Raffles Education Limited, Chew Hua Seng, on the Promotion of Investment Potential in the Education Sector.
Rosan said that the MoU is a collaborative framework between the Ministry of Investment/Investment Coordinating Board and Raffles to facilitate potential investment in the education sector in Indonesia, which can provide high-quality education and is aligned with the needs of the workforce in Indonesia, especially the Nusantara Capital City.
“I hope this MoU can enhance the good relationship between the two parties and develop collaboration on a broader scale. This includes joint studies to discuss potential investments in the education sector, development of state-of-the-art educational facilities, and also collaboration in capacity building of educators, administrators and local educational institutions,” Rosan said.
This cooperation is also part of improving the quality of Human Resources (HR) and labor in Indonesia so that it can match the existing labor market demand.
In addition to meeting with PM Wong, on the same day Rosan also met with several other Singaporean officials and entrepreneurs, including Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Industry, CEO of Singapore Food Agency (SFA), Head of Economic Development Board (EDB), and Executive Chairman of Enterprise Singapore (ESG).
