Bangkok, Thailand – Indonesia, as a key player in the digital economy sector in Southeast Asia, offers investment opportunities and cooperation to the Thai business community. They saw this in the discussion of an online meeting organized by the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok to commemorate 70 years of Diplomatic Relations between Indonesia and Thailand entitled “Indonesia Investment Promotion on Digital Economy” (03/11/2020).
Four Indonesian digital companies, Halodoc, LinkAja, MDI Ventures and Nongsa Digital Park (NDP) have introduced their work in the digital economy industry to entrepreneurs in Thailand, and offering various business opportunities and cooperation between stakeholders of two countries.
“In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic full of challenges, Indonesia continues to expand economic cooperation based on the principle of mutual benefit, including with Thailand,” said the Chancellor for Ad interim of the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok, Dicky Komar at the opening of this online seminar. Indonesia has strong optimism to make challenges that exist today as a great opportunity.
Indonesia and Thailand, as the 2 largest economies in the Southeast Asia region, have the same goals of economic diplomacy, using economic strategies by implementing the industrial revolution 4.0. Like Thailand, Indonesia continues to strengthen the digital industry sector, creative economy, and human resource development to strengthen the country’s capacity in the industrial’s era revolution 4.0. This has been further strengthened when the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the two countries to speed up the digital economy transformation process by involving all sectors of public life, which aims not only to overcome socio-economic impacts but increase competitiveness and resilience during and after the pandemic.
This online seminar presented speakers and digital economy practitioners from both countries and was attended by 60 participants from government, academia, and business actors. From the Thai side, took part as speakers, Kasama Kongsmak, Executive Vice President of the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) Thailand, and Kobsak Pootrakul, Senior Executive Vice President of Bangkok Bank who is also a representative of the Thailand Indonesia Business Council (TIBC). The two of them welcomed Indonesia’s offer and hoped for a beneficial collaboration for the two countries in order to strengthen digital economic development in the region towards a faster and better economic recovery process during and after the pandemic.
Through this meeting, Thailand opened the opportunity for other business actors in the Indonesian digital economy to expand in Thailand, such as 2 large start-up companies in Indonesia, GOJEK and Traveloka, which have penetrated the Thai market. Of course, this opportunity will increase Indonesia’s investment performance, which is not only targeting inbound investment from Thailand.
Anang Fadhilah
