Ambassador Lu Kang Attended Hainan Free Trade Port Ambassador Lu Kang Attended Hainan Free Trade Port

2023-02-20 10:46

On February 19, a Hainan free trade port promotion conference was held in Jakarta, Ambassador Lu Kang attended and delivered a speech. More than 400 people attended the conference, including Shen Xiaoming, Secretary of the Hainan Provincial Committee of CPC, Abdul Alex Soelistiyo, Chairman of the Indonesian Chinese Entrepreneur Association, and Hou Yanqi, the Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN, permanent representatives and officials to ASEAN, representatives of major Indonesian business associations and representatives in key industries in Indonesia.

At the Conference, Secretary Shen Xiaoming introduced preferential policies and new investment opportunities of the province. Hainan Provincial Bureau of International Economic Development, Agricultural and Rural Department, and Culture and Tourism Department made introductions respectively on Investment opportunities in key industries of Hainan Free Trade Port, high-efficiency agriculture with tropical characteristics, and development of tourism and cultural industries. 13 cooperation project agreements between Hainan and Indonesia were signed, involving the opening of international routes, coconut and natural rubber raw material procurement, factory investment, cross-border e-commerce and other fields, with a contract value of nearly 3.5 billion yuan RMB.

The full text of Ambassador Lu Kang’s remarks is as follows:

Dear Party Secretary Mr. Shen Xiaoming, Dear Chairman Zhang Jinxiong, my colleague Ambassador Hou Yanqi, Indonesian entrepreneurs and friends from all walks of life, ladies and gentlemen:

It is a great pleasure to be invited to attend the Promotion Conference of the Hainan Free Trade Port Cooperation. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia, I would like to express my hearty congratulations on the launch of this promotion event and my warm welcome to all of you!

Over a month into 2023, Party Secretary Mr. Shen visited Indonesia as the first principal head of China’s provincial government to visit Indonesia since the pandemic. He came bringing the breeze of spring manifested in the preferential policies pertaining to the Hainan Free Trade Port. This move will give momentum to the development of China-Indonesia bilateral relations.

Looking back at 2022, the bilateral relations of China and Indonesia has developed comprehensively and come to outstanding fruition.

First, the political mutual trust has continuously deepened. In July 2022, President Joko Widodo paid a successful visit to China. In November 2022, President Xi Jinping attended the G20 summit in Bali, making his very first visit overseas after the 20th Congress of CPC. The two countries have reached a consensus on the co-development of a “China-Indonesia community with a shared future,” based on which, we will form a novel growth pattern driven by four wheels, the wheels of collaboration in political, economic, cultural and maritime sectors.

Second, the bilateral economic and trade cooperation is full of highlights. In 2022, the trade volume between China and Indonesia reached up to USD 149 billion and China's investment in Indonesia amounted to USD 8.23 billion, both were breakthroughs in the history of bilateral trades. China has been Indonesia's largest trading partner for ten consecutive years and the second largest source of investment in Indonesia. The pilot operation of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway was a complete success, the construction of "two parks in two countries" has been impressive, and the pragmatic cooperations between the two countries are boosting with vitality.

Third, people-to-people and cultural exchanges are in recovery. The number of flights between China and Indonesia has continued to increase, and personnel exchanges have resumed in an orderly manner. The government interactions, business trips, and tourist visits between the two countries are "blooming in the breeze of spring". Indonesia has become one of the very first tourist destinations for Chinese after the resumption of outbound group tours. Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno announced that a "red carpet" would be rolled out to welcome Chinese tourists.

The friendly relationship between Hainan and Indonesia has had a long history. As early as a thousand years ago, Hainan-based merchants headed south to venture into Indonesia for business and fortune, and became the pioneers paving the way for the "Maritime Silk Road".  Today, a thousand years have elapsed, China's Belt and Road initiative synergizes with Indonesia's "Global Maritime Fulcrum" strategy, and Hainan Province has once again become a "trend leader" with a key role in boosting economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. Indonesia is a big country in agriculture and tourism, which has been vigorously advancing green and digital transformation. Hainan promotes economic development and collaboration with foreign parties primarily through its four leading industries: tourism, tropical agriculture, high-tech and modern services. The development strategies of Indonesia and Hainan overlap with each other, allowing high compatibility for cooperation.

Currently, China is actively promoting a higher level of opening up to the outside world, accelerating the building of a new development pattern of “dual circulation”, in which domestic and foreign markets reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay, and promoting the high-quality development of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road". Hainan is accelerating the development of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics. This is a major move by China to promote a higher level of opening up and to support economic globalization. The level of opening up and the preferential policies rolled out as part of the opening up are unprecedented. I believe that this will open a new window of opportunities for partnerships between China and Indonesia.

2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of China-Indonesia comprehensive strategic partnership, and also the 10th anniversary of the "Belt and Road" initiative. Indonesia holds the chairmanship of ASEAN, and the development of bilateral relations has ushered in a new and important stage full of opportunities. The promotional event this evening is the "Hainan moment" dedicated for the development of China-Indonesia relations. I hope that entrepreneurs and friends present here will seize the opportunity for discussions about potentials cooperation, the opportunity to enjoy the benefit resulting from the development of Hainan Free Trade Port, and to bring the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries to a new height.

Thank you!