TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at the 2018 Indonesia-Korea Business and Investment Forum called South Korea an old friend. Jokowi said many South Korean companies had running their businesses in Indonesia for decades.
"Overall, all of you have made South Korea as the third largest international investor in Indonesia," Jokowi said in a written broadcast of the Deputy for Protocols, Press and Media at the Presidential Secretariat on Monday, September 10.
According to Jokowi, Korean shoes and garment factories have employed more than 900,000 Indonesian workers. Korean companies are also large investors in basic industrial sectors, such as the steel and chemical industries.
Read: Jokowi: Korean Companies in Indonesia Employ 900,000 People
Jokowi also expressed his gratitude to the investors who had fulfilled his invitation in March 2017, at the Chosun Ilbo Korea-Indonesia Business Summit in Jakarta.
Since the meeting, Jokowi said, a number of Korean entertainment and media companies had joined the Indonesian market for the past year and significantly increased their investments.
Read: 45 Years of Indonesia-S. Korea Ties, Jokowi Meets Moon Jae-in
Jokowi took for an example the number one film in Indonesia in 2017 produced by Korean film companies. A number of tourism development agreements with South Korean companies are also mentioned in the discussion.
"I want to use of this opportunity to say thank you, for meeting my invitation," he said.
FRISKI RIANA