Indonesia, China explores US$100 million maritime cooperation

Investment and Downstream Deputy Minister/Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Deputy Head Todotua Pasaribu held a working visit to Xiamen City, People's Republic of China to explore a potential maritime and fisheries sector cooperation with the East Asian country. During his visit, Deputy Minister Todotua received investment interest from Zhenghui Group, a company engaged in the maritime industry.

Todotua welcomed the investment interest, which is set to be distributed to the Sulawesi, Papua, and Sumatra regions in three phases, with an initial focus on West Sulawesi Province through strategic cooperation with Kaisar Group. The initiative includes the provision of 1,500 fishing vessels, training of 500 to 1,000 marine technicians, and strengthening research collaboration between Indonesian and Chinese universities in the development of sustainable fisheries technology.

"In this first phase, the investment plan is [worth] about US$100 million. This is one of the downstream programs that we will seriously develop in the future. Downstreaming will not only occur in the mineral, coal, oil and gas commodity industries, but we will also seriously manage it in the maritime industry," explained Todotua.

During this visit, Deputy Minister Todotua also witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between PT KIPAS and three leading companies from China, namely Fujian Yihe Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., Zhangzhou Hansheng Ship Design Co., Ltd., and China Overseas Development Association (CODA). This MoU covers cooperation in the shipbuilding industry, offshore fishing vessel manufacturing, fishing port management, and marine product processing.

"This investment is an integrated one, with the concept being the creation of a maritime industrial ecosystem starting from the ship design industry, ship design production, then the ships that will be used to catch fish in our waters, and the results will also be processed in the area," said Todotua.

Todotua also took the time to directly review the Zhenghui Group, which has a 2.4 ha seafood processing and cold storage facility in the Dongguan Bonded Zone and the Shipyard Industry with a production capacity of 150-600 gross register tonnage (GRT) ships.

The Indonesian government views this collaboration as an important step in supporting an inclusive and sustainable blue economic transformation. It is hoped that this strategic partnership will not only strengthen the national fisheries industry, but also open up opportunities for the empowerment of local fishermen and increasing Indonesian marine exports.

Based on Investment and Downstream Ministry/BKPM data, the PRC was recorded to be the third largest source of foreign investments to Indonesia in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025 with a total investment of US$1.8 billion from 13,788 projects.