Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati received a visit from President and CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council (US-ABC) Ambassador Ted Osius in Jakarta on Wednesday (May 24, 2023).

“On the occasion, I heard out various aspirations they conveyed,” Minister Indrawati said in an official statement issued in Jakarta on Thursday.

During the meeting, the minister also received a number of suggestions on topics ranging from the taxation policy, digital transactions, industry development, and investments in renewable energy, health, and education sectors.

The minister and council members also discussed the focuses of Indonesia’s G20 presidency last year and its ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) chairmanship this year, including a just international taxation system, low carbon and climate resilience (LCCR), and climate financing in the homeland.

For its ASEAN chairmanship, Indonesia has adopted the theme of “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth” to reflect its goal of making ASEAN important and relevant as the world’s growth center.

At the 42nd ASEAN Summit from May 9–11 in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, the bloc’s leaders produced a number of important documents, including the Declaration on Advancing Regional Payment Connectivity and Promoting Local Currency Transactions and the Declaration on Developing the Regional Electric Vehicle Ecosystem.

The US is one of the most important trade partners of ASEAN. It accounted for as much as 22 percent of Indonesia’s total foreign direct investment as of 2021.

“The cooperation with the US-ASEAN Business Council constitutes one of the good instances of potential cooperation. With that in mind, we should foster it for the sake of realizing the dream of Golden Indonesia 2045,” she affirmed.

The meeting was also attended by 31 US-based Indonesian business actors.

Earlier, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto also held a meeting with the business council to discuss efforts to intensify business relationships, which, in turn, will push up economic growth.

The meeting was attended by representatives of US companies that are members of the US-ABC, such as Boeing, IBM, Visa, Qualcomm, and Exxon.