The Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Surabaya, Xu Yong, visited the East Java Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday (7/5/2024). During the visit, he expressed China's desire to further strengthen cooperation in the economic field with East Java.

Xu Yong revealed that the friendship between China and Indonesia has been going on for a long time. In recent years, under the leadership of Xi Jinping and Joko Widodo, bilateral relations between the two countries have improved quite rapidly. "High-level communication between the two countries is going well so that the direction of cooperation development can be clearly drawn," Xu Yong said.

Last year, he added, cooperation between the two countries had achieved remarkable results, such as the fast train project that has been running commercially. The East Java Provincial Government has also established sister city cooperation with two cities in China, namely the cities of Shanghai and Guangxi. This economic cooperation is expected to be even stronger with the support of business people from East Java.

Currently, he continued, China's economic performance continues to accelerate. In the last three months, China's economy has grown by 5.3%. "We are accelerating development with the strength of productivity and food quality. We support equitable multilateralism as well as equitable globalisation. We are willing to join hands with other partner countries to realise development," he said.

There are several project cooperation programmes in East Java that have become a focus between the two countries, namely PT Hailiang Nova Materials Indonesia in JIIPE Gresik which develops Hailiang Copper Foil at an accelerated level by producing copper foil.

"The ink project is running smoothly. There are a number of employees from Indonesia, also opening an apprenticeship programme for vocational education. We also welcome entrepreneurs from East Java to visit China and participate in exhibitions there. We also hope that Kadin can help Chinese entrepreneurs who want to invest and invest here," he said.

Responding to the offer, Chairman of the East Java Kadin Adik Dwi Putranto said he was very enthusiastic and encouraged East Java businesses to enter the Chinese market by participating in the exhibition to be held. This is to increase the number of East Java exports to China because so far the trade balance between East Java and China has always experienced a devicit.

Data from the East Java Central Bureau of Statistics shows that the realisation of East Java exports to China in 2024, for example, from January to March East Java exports to China reached US$ 691.89 million, up from last year in the same period of US$ 690.62. Meanwhile, East Java's imports from China in the same period this year reached US$ 1.735 billion, up from US$ 1.407 billion last year.

"In China there is a very large exhibition organised by the Chinese government, we are invited to participate and we are supported. This must be utilised because the Chinese market is very large," said Adik.

Despite the intense competition, he is optimistic that East Java businesses will be able to compete. "We are not worried about the competitiveness and quality of the products we will bring. Moreover, we have a variety of products that are quite potential to offer such as food and beverages as well as various household needs such as furniture because raw materials are lacking there. The difficulties of entrepreneurs in East Java entering China for swallow's nest products will also be facilitated. We have the advantage," said Adik.

In addition to increasing trade cooperation, the East Java Chamber of Commerce and Industry also hopes that there will be special cooperation related to improving human resources or human resources. "With the amount of Chinese investment in East Java, of course, a workforce whose competence is adjusted to the investment is needed. Therefore, I said earlier that if there is investment from China, we ask what competencies are needed besides language. We will prepare it," he said.

As for investment, Adik revealed that they are interested in investing in the downstream sector of natural resources, such as copper processing, manufacturing, solar cells and agribusiness or agriculture.