Sultan of Yogyakarta Hamengkubuwono X spoke in Melbourne recently, identifying the creative economy as massively important for Yogya’s future.
Trade
Indonesian textiles and clothing exports is growing at a rate marginally faster than that of the country’s GDP, but the overall downward trend continues, a new market intelligence report suggests.
A recent panel discussion looked at IA-CEPA as a platform to reinvigorate Australia and Indonesia’s economic relationship
The free trade deal between Australia and Indonesia might not enjoy the smooth passage expected in the Indonesian parliament, after opposition this week raised concerns about trade imbalance.
“I often wonder nowadays where Australia’s Asia dream has gone. At one point, Australia was pushing hard to be considered a part of Asia. That ambition is disappearing.”
As companies look to move production out of China, they are largely bypassing Indonesia in favor of nimbler neighbors such as Vietnam.
Indonesia’s economic growth has barely moved in three quarters, prompting some analysts to cast doubt over the data.
What was Factory Asia has made a subtle shift to a consumer-driven Market Asia under the “world’s biggest trade deal”.
In the Central Java province of Indonesia, amid a patchwork of rice fields and farms where sugar and indigo crops once dominated, garment factories are now bustling.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo asked the National Public Procurement Agency (LKPP) to prioritize locally produced goods over imports so that procurement activities could boost domestic industry.
As Santo Darmosumarto, director of the East Asia and Pacific division of Indonesia’s foreign ministry, said: “For a long time we have looked north; to Japan, Korea and China, and so has Australia, but in both looking north we have missed each other.”
[Video content] Coffee consumption in Indonesia has almost doubled in a decade. Coffee tourism is boosting small coffee-growing locations in remote parts of Indonesia.
The office of the USTR has removed tariffs for five Indonesian products: laminated plywood, some thin plywood, dry onion, rattan handicrafts as well as artificial sugar, honey and caramel.
Indonesia is dangling the world’s largest trove of nickel to lure the auto industry into spending billions of dollars to transform the islands into a hub for the technology.
The latest set piece showdown between the Labor Party leadership and its union base over a trade deal – this time with Indonesia – comes with some overlooked historic irony.
“This report confirms that the ratification of these agreements will enhance export opportunities and deliver significant benefits for Australian farmers and businesses.”
