China to help Indonesia build digital economy as e-commerce sweeps archipelago
- At G20 summit in Bali this week, China and Indonesia signed deals that could bring greater internet connectivity to hundreds of remote islands
- Some of the joint projects may fall under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Indonesia’s central bank expects the value of its e-commerce to double by 2025
China has agreed to help Indonesia build its digital economy in a vast country where e-commerce is taking off, but people on remote islands still lack stable internet connections or skills to sell their wares.
President Xi Jinping and his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, met on Wednesday during the Group of 20 summit in Bali to oversee the signing of economic cooperation deals that include “strengthening” the Southeast Asian country’s digital economy, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Indonesians increasingly rely on e-commerce, a key component of the digital economy, with many still working at home to avoid both the coronavirus and traffic congestion in cities such as the capital Jakarta, people on the ground say.
Indonesia’s e-commerce industry was worth about US$70 billion in gross merchandise value last year, according to a study by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company. And the country’s central bank projected in July that the value would reach US$146 billion by 2025 and US$289 billion by 2030.