Ambassador Wants Indonesia to Pattern Vietnam Economic Policy

Jakarta, MINA – Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam, Ibun Hadi said the development of Vietnam’s economy is growing aggressively. Indonesia cannot longer sees Vietnam one eye.

He wanted the Indonesian government to study and implement economic policy practices that have been implemented and proved successful in boosting the Vietnamese economy.

“If there is a Vietnamese policy that has proven to be better, Indonesia needs to see, study, and implement it in accordance with domestic conditions,” Ibnu said at a press conference through video teleconference at Borobudur Hotel, Central Jakarta on Thursday, August 1.

Ibnu explained that Vietnam’s overall growth, especially in the economic field, is amazing. In fact, according to data from Indonesian Embassy in Hanoi, in the first six months of 2019, Vietnam’s total trade reached $247.5 billion and their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 6.76 percent.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s total trade is still lagging behind $ 162.6 billion and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) only grew 5.07 percent.

Furthermore, he explained several factors that caused economic development in Vietnam to be so impressive, it could be said Vietnam as a serious competitor of Indonesia in the Southeast Asian market.

The first factor is production costs. He said that the main component of Vietnamese industries is labor, which he said is cheaper than in Indonesia.

In addition, Vietnam in the short term has a positive impact on the trade war between China and the United States.

“As a result of rising tariffs, production costs, and labor in China also rose. Therefore, they are expanding investment in Vietnam, especially in the field of labor, to reduce costs, “he said.

The second factor, according to Ibnu, it related to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Vietnam which are not difficult and get simplification from the government.

Furthermore, the third factor is the development of adequate infrastructure. Ibnu said that overall, infrastructure in Vietnam does not have a striking gap, meaning that infrastructure development has been carried out evenly. (L/Sj/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)