He emphasized that Indonesia must not only become a “branch” in terms of investment and export destinations. In his view, Indonesia must be able to design an economic ecosystem so that other countries can really depend on Indonesian products.
He called for the nation to follow the example of Taiwan and South Korea which are able to manufacture products that other countries are dependent on. “Taiwan focuses on the strategic chip industry. They are very competitive. Just one (product). But everything depends on this, not to mention other products,” he said.
“Meanwhile, South Korea makes digital components which big U.S. companies are also dependent on.”
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Jokowi emphasized that Indonesia can also follow their footsteps because the country has enormous reserves of nickel, copper, bauxite and tin. Indonesia, in his view, can focus on electric vehicle batteries.
“We have to catch up. As soon as this is done, according to my calculation, 60 percent of electric cars, vehicles will depend on our batteries. We can have 60 percent of the global market share. This will be our great strength,” he said. (rr)