German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Indonesian President Joko Widodo at their meeting in Hannover on Sunday (April 1) discussed efforts to create equal economic relations between Indonesia and Germany as well as Indonesia and the European Union.

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo was received by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Guesthouse Lower Saxony, Hannover, Germany, on Sunday (April 16), Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi has said.

Retno explained in her press statement that during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President Jokowi emphasized the importance of realizing equal economic relations between Indonesia and Germany as well as Indonesia and the European Union.

"For this reason, various European Union regulations that hamper welfare need to be addressed. The president also asked for Germany's support so that negotiations on the Indonesia-EU CEPA agreement could be completed immediately," Retno said.

In terms of investment, the foreign minister said that the president welcomed the collaboration of the Indonesian-German joint economic and investment committee. In addition, the president believes that German investment in Indonesia needs to be focused on priority sectors.

"The German investment in Indonesia needs to be focused on priority sectors such as those on export-oriented industries, renewable energy and downstream industries," the foreign minister said.

The head of state stressed the importance of German investment and technology experts to support the energy transition in Indonesia, Retno said, adding that the two leaders also discussed the implementation of The Just Energy Transition Partnership.

the foreign minister further said that there were a number of results in the presidential visit this time, namely in relation to the government-to-government relationship (G to G) and the business-to-business relationship (B to B).

"For G to G, two agreements have been signed between the Indonesian government and the German government, namely the first Joint Declaration of Intent on Join Economic and Investment Committee regarding the establishment of a joint public and private sector forum to discuss increasing economic and investment cooperation," said the foreign minister.

In addition, the foreign minister said that another result of the presidential visit this time was the Joint Declaration of Intent in The Feed of Digitalization between the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information and the German Ministry of Digital and Transformation to support the development of digital transformation.

Meanwhile, in business to business cooperation, the minister said that 18 agreements have been formed with a value of approximately 27.9 trillion rupiahs.

"Those are in the sectors of the sustainability and energy transition investment, start-up innovation, and making Indonesia 4.0," she noted.

Reporting by Indonesia Window