REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Vice President Jusuf Kalla urged the Chinese companies to prioritize the use of Indonesian workers while running their businesses in the country. By prioritizing Indonesia's domestic workforce in every Chinese-owned company, it is expected to add value to the industry, maintain environmental sustainability and improve the quality of industrial products.

"On this occasion, I would like to convey the hope of Indonesia for the support of the Chinese government and the Indonesian and Chinese businesses to increase the investment with the emphasis of prioritizing the Indonesian workforce," Kalla said in his speech at the Indonesia-China Business Summit 2018 which was also attended by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Jakarta, Monday evening.

The increasing number of Chinese investment in manufacturing sector and energy processing industry must be supported by environmentally friendly mechanism, excellent product and service quality guarantee as well as transfer of technology, Kalla added.

Also read: PM Li urges Chinese firms to prioritize Indonesian workers

Those requirements are expected to be fulfilled by Chinese companies, as Indonesia's second largest investor after Singapore, considering that Indonesian government has provided policy on ease of doing business.

The Presidential Regulation No. 20 of 2018 on the Use of Foreign Workers was established to encourage the flow of foreign investment in Indonesia. By such regulation, the government provides ease of permission for the use of foreign workers.

However, according to Kalla, the regulation is actually intended for the foreign experts to the transfer of technology, which is expected to open more job opportunities for Indonesian workers.

"So the regulation says that a foreign worker is expected to open at least 100 job opportunities. Rather than competing, those foreign workers who enter Indonesia must be partners for Indonesian workers so our industry can go forward," Kalla noted.

Since the agreement on Indonesia-China strategic and comprehensive partnership five years ago, China has been emerged as Indonesia's largest trading partner with total trade value reached US$58.8 billion in 2017.

Still in 2017, China was also the third largest investor in Indonesia with a total investment of US$3.3 billion in 1,977 projects.

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