President Jokowi Calls Out Optimism in Facing Global Challenges
PRESS RELEASE NO. 70/SP/TKMG20/11/2022
G20 COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA TEAM
Marves - Nusa Dua, November 14, 2022 – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) delivered a keynote speech at the closing ceremony of B20 at Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC), Bali on Monday (14/11/2022). On that occasion, the President conveyed Indonesia’s optimism in facing the current global challenges.
“I have said that there is always an opportunity in every difficulty and challenge. Do not be pessimistic,” President Joko Widodo said.
President also recounted that it was during the pandemic when he talked in front of B20 for the first time in January. However, there was an ongoing pandemic, war, food crisis, energy crisis, and financial crisis ten months after.
Nevertheless, the Indonesian Head of State remained grateful as Indonesia’s economy grew by 5.44
percent in the second quarter and by 5.72 percent in the third quarter.
Inflation was kept at 5.9 percent in September due to the increase of fuel price. However, it declined to 5.7 percent in October.
Joko Widodo also mentioned that the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva, said that Indonesia is one of the lights amid the dark global economy.
To maintain Indonesia’s economic condition, President Joko Widodo mentioned three great strategies to face global challenges, with the first one being downstream and industrialization.
“We need to stop (exporting) raw materials first to provide added value in the country, whether it is related to income for the state or related to the country’s job creation,” the President said.
This started with nickel production as one of the materials of electric batteries for electric cars.
“Australia has lithium and Indonesia has nickels. When they are combined, they become electric car batteries. I have asked the Australian Prime Minister to bring lithium to Indonesia. We can do downstream in Indonesia,” the President said.
Next is the green economy concept. Indonesia has great potentials in renewable energy. There is a potential for 443.000 megawatts from hydropower, geothermal, solar panel, and wind power plants.
“We have everything. This is an opportunity for investors to work together, to invest in technology because it requires a lot of money to build a green economy together in Indonesia,” President Joko Widodo said.
Indonesia has prepared a 30,000-hectare land in North Kalimantan for the construction of a green industrial park that will be used to produce various green products in Indonesia.
The President believed that investors will be attracted to the investment opportunities in Indonesia. There is also the Kayan river that can be used to produce 13,000 clean energies through hydropower.
Digitalization is another sector that can be developed in Indonesia. President Joko Widodo requested developed countries to help small (micro) entrepreneurs with digitalization.
Joko Widodo explained that there are 19 million micro-entrepreneurs out of 64 million MSMEs that have digital platforms in the space of three years.
“We hope that it can reach 30 million in 2024. It means that other micro-entrepreneurs should not be left behind. I leave this to India to involve these micro-entrepreneurs. I believe that B20 will grow even more,” the President concluded.
More than 3,300 people from 40 countries attended the B20 Summit. They consisted of heads of state, chief executive officers (CEO), and business leaders from multinational companies. Participants of the B20 Summit are representatives of more than six and a half million businesses around the world.
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