Indonesia pursues "quality investment" from China: FM Marsudi

Beijing, China (ANTARA) - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi emphasized that Indonesia is open to and pursuing "quality investment" from China amid a surge in bilateral investment and trade values in the past decade.

"We want to see quality investment (from China), which means an investment that respects Environment, Sustainability, and Governance (ESG) principles," Marsudi told ANTARA here on Friday.

Marsudi conveyed the remarks after meeting her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, at the 5th Indonesia-China Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) in Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

Citing the Investment Coordinating Board's (BPKM's) data, the minister stated that Chinese investments in Indonesia had reached USD7.43 billion by 2024, an almost tenfold increase from 2014 when only USD800 million investment was recorded.

The current investment value makes China Indonesia's second-largest investor after Singapore. However, she pointed out that the USD7.43 billion investment from China excludes the investment from Hong Kong.

Marsudi said the Chinese foreign minister had highlighted that the potential total value of bilateral investments may reach USD55 billion, with the proportion of Chinese investments to Indonesia at USD33 billion and Indonesia's investments to that country at USD22 billion.

Meanwhile, the minister drew attention to a significant increase in Indonesia-China trade over the last decade.

According to the Chinese customs authority data, the total trade value between Indonesia and China in 2014 was recorded at USD63.66 billion, with the deficit on Indonesia's side at USD14.48 billion.

However, by 2023, Indonesia has overcome the deficit as the total bilateral trade value reached USD139.26 billion.

"The increase has surpassed 100 percent, and Indonesia has made a trade surplus for the last four years, according to the Chinese authority. By 2023, our surplus was almost at USD9 billion," Marsudi stated.

Apart from trade and investment, Marsudi and Wang also discussed cooperation in renewable energy, industry downstreaming, and electric vehicle ecosystem developments during the bilateral meeting.