Indonesia-Singapore Encourage Collaboration in the Field of Digital Economy

Singapore, MINA – Indonesian Minister of Communication and Information, Rudiantara and Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore, Ngurah Swajaya, opened a seminar organized by the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore in order to enhance cooperation in digital economy.

According to a written statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore, which was received by MINA on Wednesday, the seminar was held on Monday in Singapore, which was attended by around 70 participants who were representatives of the Government as well as digital business players from Indonesia and Singapore.

In his remarks, Minister Rudiantara explained the potential of digital economy and the role of government as a facilitator and accelerator. Indonesia Ministry of Communication and Information also prepares infrastructure and prepares human resources to exploit the potential of digital economy and make Indonesia as competitive main player.

“As a country that has the largest digital economic valuation in Southeast Asia with around 130 billion US dollars in 2020, followed by Thailand with 43 billion dollars, Indonesia is considered necessary to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Rudiantara.

This potential also includes the development of Fintech and Blockchain which are expected to develop in order to increase financial inclusion in Indonesia. Especially for Fintech, Minister Rudiantara stressed the importance of helping to realize financial inclusion, especially in Eastern Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Financial Services Authority has developed a variety of innovations to support digital hubs, including the financial sector. Creative economic growth in Indonesia is very rapid, its contribution to GDP is almost 1,000 trillion rupiah.

Fintech is considered to be able to utilize, through Blockchain technology, to build digital credibility in order to support creative economic development in Indonesia.

Currently, funding for Unicorns is available, but funding for smaller startups, such as MSMEs, is not too much. Therefore, fintech has a role to help MSMEs’s development and enter the e-commerce market and provide access to funding.

In the meeting also signed 3 cooperation agreements in order to meet the needs of digital talent, namely between PT. RISING Innovation Ventures and Glexindo to provide IT Trainees for Glexindo, SGFintech Pte. Ltd. and PT. RISING Innovation Ventures to establish WeKode Coding School and SGFintech Pte. Ltd. and PT. The Techno-Preneur Hub WeKode to establish a co-working space.

The potential of Indonesia’s digital economy is currently still the largest in ASEAN with the presence of 4 unicorn techs from only around 7 in ASEAN. Indonesia has an excellent ecosystem for developing startups in the field of sustainable ICT.

Meanwhile, the number of Singapore-Indonesia investments in Indonesia in 2018 has realization 9.1 percent compared to 2017. This fact, puts Singapore as the biggest investor for Indonesia for 5 consecutive years.

With the magnitude of economic transactions through the internet, it is expected that Singapore’s investment realization in Indonesia will continue to grow in the coming years. (T/Sj/R04)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)