Indonesia and China to expand cooperation on training and technology

The Indonesian and Chinese governments have committed to expanding cooperation in human resource development, technology transfer, and vocational education programmes, coinciding with the 76th anniversary of bilateral relations between the two countries. This was conveyed by Sari Harjanti, Expert Staff to the Minister of State Secretary for Political Communication and Public Relations, at the ‘Alumni Gathering: Indonesia-China Technical Cooperation Programme’ at the Ministry of State Secretariat office in Jakarta on Thursday. Sari stated that the decades-long cooperation has provided numerous benefits for Indonesia, particularly in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, and transmigration. To date, more than 400 Indonesian alumni have participated in various programmes facilitated through this cooperation. The government plans to continue developing the programme through various new breakthroughs. Beyond short-term courses, future cooperation is expected to encompass formal degree education programmes, vocational education, and South-South Cooperation initiatives. Sari explained that the Ministry of State Secretariat, through the Bureau of Foreign Technical Cooperation, serves as the entry point for various international cooperation programmes, which are then coordinated and distributed to relevant ministries and institutions in Indonesia. She added that one of the priority sectors to be accelerated in cooperation with China is digitalisation and technology. ‘The programmes we want to adopt more quickly are in the fields of digitalisation and technology. That is what we most want to achieve quickly,’ she explained. On the same occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Wang Lutong said the alumni gathering held this year was the first organised by the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia and would be held again next year. ‘Trade and investment are not everything in Indonesia-China relations. People are always the foundation of bilateral relations, and they should be the ones benefiting from this cooperation,’ said Wang Lutong. He emphasised that the Chinese government is not only focused on training and capacity-building programmes but also encourages the implementation of concrete projects whose benefits can be directly felt by the people of both countries. For example, China plans to build a vocational school centre in Papua as well as a rice hub utilising Chinese agricultural technology to increase rice production in the region. ‘We are thinking about several concrete programmes and projects designed to provide tangible benefits to the people of Indonesia and China,’ he added.