The Chamber was successfully relaunched at a gathering presided over by the Ambassador of India to Indonesia, Sandeep Chakravorty, the President Director of Indika Energy and KADIN Chairman, Arsjad Rasjid, the Head of CII Indonesia, the Governing Council and existing and new members of IndCham.
Participating through a video message from the Paris Olympics, Rasjid highlighted that as ancient maritime neighbours and modern-day Comprehensive Strategic Partners, both countries are pursuing similar economic trajectories and their relationship is only expected to grow stronger and closer. He mentioned that India-Indonesia, with their combined GDP of $5 trillion and combined population of 1.7 bn are going to be the new epicenter of global growth.
“As we celebrate 75 Years of our diplomatic relations with several cultural, economic and political exchanges planned in collaboration, the time is right to restart and activate this business chamber.”
He also mentioned that with the new government in Indonesia taking office in end of 2024, strong foundations and contributions of private sector will be imperative in reaching the targets of 8% growth which the new government has set for itself for the next 5 years along with focus on people-centric policies such as human development, food sufficiency, technology and skills, healthcare, and down-streaming for exports. He hoped that IndCham could contribute towards these objectives through its future activities and closer business collaborations.
The relaunch is the realization of the pressing need to revive the business chamber which was started in 1977 but became dormant over the years during the pandemic, as the profile of India-Indonesia economic partnership has substantially risen in the past decade. India and Indonesia are ancient Maritime neighbours and modern-day Comprehensive Strategic partners. Being large emerging economies, enjoying an unprecedented demographic dividend and vibrant democracies, both have similar aspirations and challenges, with policy focus on Industrialization and Ease of Doing Business, like Atmanirbhar Bharat/Make in India or Down-streaming in Indonesia, leading to their respective visions of 100 years of development: Amrit Kaal 2047 and Indonesia Emas 2045.Bilateral Trade between India and Indonesia during calendar year 2022 stood at USD 38.8 Billion, when Indonesia became India’s largest trade partner in ASEAN. Both countries have set a Trade Target of USD 50 bn by 2025. India is also the 14th largest investor in Indonesia, with 80 Indian companies having base here. Apart from this, 300 diaspora businesses and 1000s of professionals including startups are contributing to the Indonesian growth story. We have recently revived air connectivity between the countries with 3 direct flights and more in the pipeline, including connections between the capitals of Jakarta and Delhi. In this context, Chakravorty mentioned that not just that we have huge untapped economic potential, but also a strong foundation of political and cultural closeness and business to build the future modalities of deepening this relationship, going to newer depths and heights of co-operation like in ocean economy, Health, Tourism, Energy Transition, AI- unto the Space! To achieve these objectives, businesses of both countries need a support and advocacy group that can facilitate ease of doing business and help foster new collaborations. He expressed hope for the revamped IndCham- with a more inclusive and broad based representative membership, a structured agenda of activities and a strengthened mandate- to fulfill these objectives, network, educate, innovate and grow together- in line with economic potential and profile of the Indonesia-India relationship. He invited and encouraged the business community to become members of the IndCham and renew it with their participation and contributions.
The other highlights of the ceremony were: presentation on the objectives, structure and membership details of the revitalised IndCham, online talk by Mr Sanjeev Sanyal, renowned Indian economist and historian who is presently the member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India and presentation on Personal Data Protection Law by legal luminaries from Dentons, world’s leading law firm.
Economist Sanjeev Sanyal noted that as two large emerging market economies with vibrant democracies and an unprecedented demographic dividend that drives domestic consumption and faster technological adaption and innovation, the two countries are well poised to lead the Future of Asia in the Indo-Pacific as partners that can compliment each others’ growth and bring prosperity and stability to the region. “As we navigate a multipolar world fraught with competition for resources, it’s imperative for India and Indonesia to collaborate on sustainable growth that would shape a 21st-century narrative for Asia, one that reflects our aspirations and priorities.”
He said that it is time for reverting the Indian Ocean to its original status of being the primary global economic zone and not merely the ‘trade route’ that it was reduced to in a western-led economic world order and India and Indonesia can together rewrite this new global narrative.
Fabian Pascoal – Sr. and Founding Partner at Dentons and his associate Bpk Mika Kriyasa emphasized on the importance of data privacy and presented the broad framework of the Personal Data Protection Law 2022 of Indonesia which will come into full force this October and how businesses will need to adapt to its various key provisions.
Going forward, several activities are proposed to be held by the IndCham on an annual basis focusing on priority areas like Trade & Investment facilitation, Energy Transition, Healthcare, Innovation/Start-Ups, Education and Skill enhancement, Digitalization etc.