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Documentation: Devianto (Research Assistant of LPEM FEB UI)
Indonesia and Japan are among the two largest maritime democracies and archipelago nations in the world, both taking numerous initiatives to cooperate in a broad range of policy fields. Given the right direction, the two countries are set to be among the largest 5 economies in the world in 2045, the year marking the 100th anniversary of Indonesia's independence.
The partnership between the Government of Indonesia and the Government of Japan is crucial given the economic network of trade and investment between the two countries. In 2018, Japan and Indonesia celebrated their 60thth anniversary of diplomatic relations with new enthusiasm towards 2045. One of the commemoration projects, namely 'Project 2045', was conducted by publishing a policy report on the global issues aimed at being tackled by the two countries, as well as the directions on cooperation among them.
It is within this context that the seminar “Inspiring the World: An International Cooperation Framework of Two Countries towards 2045” was conducted in Pullman Hotel on Wednesday February 12, 2020. Under the Indonesia-Japan's 2045 framework, the seminar lays the foundations of a common platform for discussing Indonesia-Japan economic partnership with all relevant stakeholders.
More importantly, Indonesia and Japan cooperation is not exclusively limited to the prosperity of the two nations. They also look at a bigger framework of cooperation at the regional framework, as both nations are situated in the Pacific Ocean and Indonesia is a member of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations).
At the regional level, ASEAN has played an important role to sustain prosperity, security and stability in Southeast Asia. ASEAN has three pillars of cooperation namely in political security, economic and socio-culture. ASEAN also adopts open-regionalism principle which includes Japan as one of partners (ie ASEAN-Japan FTA, ASEAN+3, and RCEP. Besides, each member state of ASEAN also has individual cooperation with Japan which with Indonesia is titled the Indonesia–Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA).
For Indonesia, regional cooperation could also play a role in promoting development in various areas, as the country shares borders with various countries, both in Asia and Oceania continents. Until nowadays, the regional economic disparity exists within Indonesia, in which one of the major challenges is the economic development of the Eastern part of Indonesia that shares borders with several Oceanian nations. Hence, it is also important that Indonesia and Japan can share 'pacific enthusiasm' in reducing both the economic and social disparities within Indonesia.
Human resource development is also an essential agenda at President Joko Widodo's 2nd term. Indonesia and Japan have opposite demographics. Indonesia has surplus labor in millennial ages and has a challenge that skills development of middle-educated human resources. On the other hand, Japan has a declining human resources due to an aging society, while possessing tremendous quality of human capital. Therefore, a good integration between the two countries' human resources will be key going forward.
