TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) has joined hands with Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency or Kotra to promote and facilitate investment opportunities in flagship sectors.

The BKPM chairman Thomas Trikasih Lembong and Kotra CEO Kim Jae-Hong have signed a memorandum of understanding on the cooperation during the Indonesia-Korea Business Summit in Jakarta on Tuesday, March 14, 2017.

“The implementation of the memorandum of understanding is expected to help both South Korean and Indonesian firms to develop their businesses,” Thomas said.

He said that the scope of cooperation will cover, among others, investment promotion activities, exchange of information, documentation and market research.

Cooperation in investment promotion will particularly cover flagship sectors such as construction and infrastructure, manufacture, lifedata-style, tourism, connectivity, information technology, e-commerce and creative economy.

“Kotra is the BKPM of Korea. We have to work closely to facilitate troubleshooting of problems that may arise,” he said.

Thomas said that those of investment are reciprocal, similar to trade agreements. In this case, the BKPM will facilitate South Korean companies to invest in Indonesia and Kotra will help Indonesian firms to invest in South Korea.

“It is important to open the access to the Indonesian market for our products, our services, our tourism destinations, be better-known,” he said.

He explained that Indonesia may not only export goods but also services in the form of ideas, concepts, illustrations, arts, and tourism experience to South Korea.

“Youngsters are good at humorous, creative, fun contents, graphics, cartoons, animations, etc. We have to think that in the 21st century, [we] may not only export goods but also services,” Thomas Lembong said.

ANTARA