August 18, 2023
Kendal, 18 August 2023
--- On the agenda for the visit of the Minister of Trade and Industry of
Singapore, Gan Kim Yong to Indonesia, he took the time to pay a visit to Kendal
Regency, Central Java. Accompanied by the Coordinating Minister for the Economic Affairs of Indonesia, Airlangga Hartarto,
the two of them attended a groundbreaking event for the construction of one in
the Kendal Industrial Park (KIP).
Minister Gan's visit
to Kendal this time was also in order to review the development of KIP as a joint venture
project between Indonesia and Singapore which had been established since 2016.
Currently, KIP has been designated
as an industrial area with the status of a Special Economic Zone and already
has 91 business entities that are members of national and multinational companies. What was
interesting about his visit was that he had the opportunity to attend the
groundbreaking of PT Dongjin Textile Indonesia together with the Coordinating
Minister for Economic Affairs and also the Regent of Kendal, Dico M Ganinduto.
PT Dongjin Textile
Indonesia is a publicly listed company that manufactures textile materials for
shoes, as well as a first-tier supplier for the sports brand Nike. In its
operations, Dongjin implements environmental responsibility. "We carry out
integrated environmental management starting from the use of gas to reduce
carbon emissions, using the latest technology to be able to reuse production wastewater," said Mr. Cho Hyun Geun as President Director of PT Dongjin Textile
Indonesia. Cho also shared his decision to choose Indonesia as the
location for their expansion. “Even though we were still during the Covid
pandemic, we were still confident about deciding to invest in KIP. At that time we were
trying to choose the right strategy to deal with the covid period so that our
business would continue to run well and develop during the pandemic." He
also said that this was inseparable from the human resource factor owned by
Dongjin. Dongjin has the right professional people who can solve any
problem.
As for the
construction of the Dongjin factory in Kendal, the investment absorbed is
around USD 78 million with a projected workforce of 450 people. Coordinating
Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga also welcomed the investment. He said that this would have a
positive impact on regional and national economic growth.
"We should be
proud that in the midst of a slowdown in the global economy, the Indonesian
economy in the second quarter of 2023 was still able to record positive growth
of 5.17% from the achievements in 2022. Therefore, I am optimistic that the
growing manufacturing industry will increase regional and national growth. I
also hope that Kendal can further develop along with the growth of the industry
in this area," said Airlangga in his remarks.
On the same occasion,
Singapore's Minister of Trade and Industry, Gan Kim Yong, expressed his
admiration for the industrial developments in the Kendal Industrial Park area. "At the
beginning of the construction of this bilateral project between Indonesia and
Singapore, the government aimed that through the potential of Kendal Regency,
this area could become an investment and development destination through an industrial area. We hope that in the future there will be more
and more industries with high technology and sustainable development such as PT
Dongjin Textile Indonesia which was built in the KIP area," concluded
Gan Kim Yong.
Stanley Ang, President
Director & CEO of PT Kawasan Industri Kendal (KIP) stated "We are very grateful for the
visit and groundbreaking at the Dongjin factory by the Coordinating Minister
for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, and Singapore's Minister of Trade and
Industry, Gan Kim Yong. The Kendal Industrial Park project can grow
healthily because of the support from the governments of Indonesia and
Singapore." Thus Stanley Ang believes that the Kendal Industrial Park will progress further
in the future.