Facing the current geopolitical conditions that are currently surrounded by uncertainty, the Government continues to strive to maintain the consistency of the national economy by optimizing various growth engines, one of which is downstreaming. With the support of investment from various parties, the nickel downstreaming carried out by the Government has been able to provide economic value with export achievements in 2023 of more than USD 30 billion.

However, the Government considers that a new economic growth engine is needed along with the challenges of technological developments in the future, namely through digitalization. Indonesia's digital economy currently reaches USD 80 billion and is projected to continue to increase. Considering this potential, efforts are needed to encourage the creation of competent Human Resources (HR) according to the needs of the industry in the future.

"So if we talk about the digital economy, we need to have HR, therefore we need more students to be given the opportunity to study at Tsinghua, especially in the current geopolitical conditions and challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and generative AI. I think this is the right time that we currently have the facilities in Kura Kura Bali," said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto while attending a Breakfast Meeting with Chairperson of Tsinghua University People's Republic of China Prof. Qiu Yong, Saturday (2/08).

On that occasion, Coordinating Minister Airlangga added that Indonesia is also targeting to become a developed country by 2045. At that time, Indonesia is estimated to have around 320 million people with a per capita income of around USD26,000, so that the Indonesian economy is estimated to reach around USD9 trillion. For that, a quality education center is needed, especially in the fields of innovation and technology, one of which is through Tsinghua University.

By considering this urgency, Coordinating Minister Airlangga said that there needs to be an additional quota for study opportunities at Tsinghua University for Indonesian students, which is currently only 50 students, so that the program can run more inclusively, especially considering the large population of Indonesia and the projection of a demographic bonus in the next few years that needs to be optimized.

Furthermore, related to digitalization, Coordinating Minister Airlangga also said that currently there is a need for digital commodities such as semiconductors. In order to meet these needs, competent human resources are needed to design microchips, so Coordinating Minister Airlangga hopes for support to encourage the capabilities of semiconductor human resources. Indonesia itself is a base for electric vehicles, fuel cells, batteries, and in the future will be encouraged to optimize the potential of semiconductors. For this reason, the availability of human resources and exchange centers for learning are expected to increase capacity in this field.

"We need human resources. Therefore, we hope for Tsinghua's support to develop it and allow students from Indonesia to study at Tsinghua, or vice versa training for trainers. Not for short courses, but for certain times at universities. So I think that's the next thing I want to work on," concluded Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

In closing his remarks, Coordinating Minister Airlangga also expressed his hope to be able to make China a partner for Indonesia for commodities and other strategic sectors such as oil, as well as technology support, AI, climate change, carbon capture and storage, to mitigating dependence on energy imports and fossil fuels.

Also present on the occasion were the former Minister of Trade for the 2004-2011 period, the Deputy for Macroeconomic and Financial Coordination, and the Special Staff of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy for Strengthening International Economic Cooperation.

News source from: ekon.go.id

https://www.ekon.go.id/publikasi/detail/5905/optimalkan-potensi-ekonomi-digital-menko-airlangga-dorong-pengembangan-kompetensi-sdm