U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in an exclusive interview with IDN Times on Tuesday said that he was assessing potential investments in Indonesia, adding that infrastructure investment was one of the subjects discussed during his meeting with President Jokowi last Monday (Dec 13, 2021).
Secretary Blinken and President Jokowi emphasized the importance of the U.S.-Indonesia Strategic Partnership and discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral relationship. The Secretary congratulated the President on Indonesia’s G20 presidency and expressed support for Indonesia’s leadership in the Indo-Pacific as the world’s third-largest democracy and a strong proponent of the rules-based international order. The Secretary reiterated the U.S. commitment to ASEAN centrality and our support for the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. They also discussed bilateral and regional cooperation to address challenges to democracy and human rights, as well as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the United States has launched a program with the G7 countries called “Build Back Better World,” in which member countries collaborate closely with partners, including Indonesia, to discover new investment opportunities.
The possible investment options include investment in health, digital, and green infrastructures. He added the U.S. also has a special framework for developing investment in the Asia Pacific region. Blinken promises to encourage U.S. companies to be able to find various investment potentials in a number of sectors in Indonesia.
Build Back Better World (B3W)
Build Back Better World (B3W) is an international economic initiative undertaken by the Group of Seven (G7). Launched in June 2021, the initiative is designed to provide an alternative to China‘s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for the infrastructure development of low- and middle-income countries.
Led by the United States, the G7 countries will work to address the $40 trillion worth of infrastructure needed by developing countries by 2035. The initiative aims to catalyze funding for quality infrastructure from the private sector and will encourage private-sector investments that support “climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality”. The initiative builds on the Blue Dot Network, a collaboration that aims to build a global network through lending-based financing to build roads, bridges, airports, ports, power plants
Led by the United States, the G7 countries will work to address the $40 trillion worth of infrastructure needed by developing countries by 2035. The initiative aims to catalyze funding for quality infrastructure from the private sector and will encourage private-sector investments that support “climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality”. The initiative builds on the Blue Dot Network, a collaboration that aims to build a global network through lending-based financing to build roads, bridges, airports, ports, power plants.
The B3W efforts are in line with the standards and principles of the Blue Dot Network (BDN), relating to the environment and climate, labor and social safeguards, financing, construction, anticorruption, and other areas. On November 4, 2019, U.S. Under Secretary of State Keith Krach formally launched the BDN with his Australian and Japanese counterparts with access to US$60 billion of capital from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) at the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Bangkok.
China Furious as U.S. sends Blinken to meet Jokowi
CNBC Indonesia – China strongly condemns the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Indonesia. Xi Jinping’s administration has even called the move “sabotage”. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Wednesday (12/15) that Washington should seriously respect the architecture of regional cooperation. He also asked the U.S. not to incite the bloc’s confrontation. “Such contradictory approaches are not in the spirit of the meeting between the heads of state of China and the U.S. and will hardly be recognized by countries in the region,” Wang said, as quoted by Chinese media, Global Times, Wednesday. “The U.S. should be a promoter of dialogue and cooperation in the region, not a saboteur who promotes divisions between regional countries and undermines regional solidarity and cooperation,” he said.
Posted by gandatmadi46@yahoo.com