Jokowi and Apple CEO Meet at the Palace, Minister of Communication and Information Reveals Points of Cooperation

JAKARTA – Chief Executive Officer atau CEO Apple Tim Cook met with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta on Wednesday morning 17 April 2024. During the 1 hour meeting the two of them agreed on several important things, one of which was increasing cooperation in the global supply chain industrial technology .

“Because there are 360 ​​HP components, Apple is only made in Indonesia compared to Vietnam’s 72 components. The President asked Apple to increase Indonesia’s role in the global supply chain,” said the Minister of Communications and Information or Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi to journalists at the Ministry of Communication and Information Office, Wednesday (17/4/2024).

“According to data from the Ministry of Industry, Indonesia imported USD 2 billion of Apple products. We hope that this meeting will provide optimism for Indonesia to be seen by the world, ASEAN is a large market with 600 million people, 45% of Indonesia, this is a promising market,” he explained.

Apart from that, President Jokowi also invited the CEO of Apple to participate in the development of Smartcity in the National Capital (IKN).

“Earlier, the President invited Apple to join Apple’s cooking team to participate in the development of smart city at IKN, so one of them includes the possibility of Apple’s manufacturing process being carried out in Indonesia,” he said.

He said there are quite a lot of Apple cellphone fans in Indonesia. So it is hoped that Indonesia will not only import, but can participate in the production process to increase state income.

“The investment value is around IDR 1.2 trillion (invest developer center). But from their commitment and seriousness they also hope that Indonesia will be involved in the production and further development process because Tim Cook said that China has been manufacturing for 30 years. So it’s not an easy matter, but If we have the will, we can,” he said.

Apart from that, Apple itself has built “research centers” in three places, namely in BSD City, Tangerang, Batam and Surabaya. Later more will be added in Bali.

“Apple has built human resource development for 3 Apple developer academies in Batam, BSD and Surabaya and a fourth will be built in Bali. So improving human resources is also important for us. For our nation and state,” he said.

He further said that Tim Cook was very happy to come to Indonesia because of the extraordinary potential and support for opening a factory here, so that Apple prices could be cheaper.

“Building or holding a manufacturing process here, they are positive, the details will be followed up later. We will import 2.8 million cellphones in 2023, of which 85% will be Apple, which means almost 2 million more, right? We will import Apple directly. With that number, “Why don’t we want to build a factory in Indonesia? Yes, in the end Apple could be cheaper,” he said.

(acres)