The Indonesian government continues to enhance the competitiveness of the national automotive industry to compete in the global market. One way to achieve this is by continually developing the national automotive component industry. To reach this target, the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo, in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin), Bank Indonesia (BI), the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Toyota Indonesia, MUFG, JAPIA, and IIPC Tokyo, organized the Indonesia-Japan The 2nd Autoparts Business Forum. In his address, Indonesia Ambassador to Japan stated that the business forum aimed to encourage concrete collaboration in the component sector between Indonesia and Japan. It also aimed to connect Indonesian component associations with their Japanese counterparts, and to promote increased Japanese investment in the autoparts sector. As a continuation of last year's business forum, he hoped that concrete steps in automotive cooperation would be taken. He predicted that the Indonesian automotive industry's value would reach more than USD 25 billion by 2025. This figure is equivalent to 5% of Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Currently, there are more than 1,500 domestic component companies in Indonesia at levels 1, 2, and 3. The number of employees in these companies is also substantial, totaling more than 1.5 million people.
Moreover, Indonesia is currently developing the electrified vehicle industry, aiming to make Indonesia one of the hubs for Electric Vehicle (EV) production and export in Asia. Director-General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation Equipment, and Electronics Industry at the Ministry of Industry, highlighted that the automotive industry is a priority sector and a foreign exchange hero in Indonesia. Currently, the automotive sector continues to expand and strengthen its supply chain from upstream to downstream, and the Ministry of Industry has set a roadmap for the automotive industry. For electrification, the ministry applies a multi-pathway system, which means they are open to all electric vehicle technologies. The component industry participants in the business forum can also explore cooperation to localize components that are still being produced in Japan or in other countries by Japanese companies. They are also exploring possibilities for developing components related to electrification. Meanwhile, the Senior Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI), explained that Japan and Indonesia have implemented Local Currency Transaction (LCT), allowing transactions to be conducted directly using the Indonesian Rupiah and Japanese Yen.
