Indonesia and Italy met on the sidelines of the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Digital Economy in Japan recently.
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development, Labour and Social Policy Luigi Di Maio and Indonesia’s Minister of Communications and Information Rudiantara represented their countries.
Initiatives for Indonesia’s digital economy
According to a recent press release, Italy promised to develop a digital start-up incubator in Indonesia.
Italy has just launched a Startup Exchange Program. This program places start-ups in incubators of G20 countries.
It is a mentor-driven exchange program to scale-up start-ups. This will help the start-ups gain valuable experience in running a business.
After the meeting, Minister Rudiantara shared that Italy wants to work with Indonesia too.
Indonesia welcomed this initiative because it would encourage the development of a digital economy in the country.
The Minister added that Italy will be launching a Technology Promotion Program in the country. Moreover, Indonesia took the meeting as an opportunity to invite Italy as an advisor for the IDEA Hub Initiative.
The Inclusive Digital Economy Accelerator (IDEA) Hub is an Indonesian initiative. It is a digital repository platform that contains a variety of knowledge and information about digital economic business models.
The repository is expected to be useful for the government, entrepreneurs, MSMEs, as well as lower-class groups in order to minimise social and economic disparity rates.
Strengthening ties with South Korea
In other news, Indonesia and South Korea also met during the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Digital Economy in Japan.
South Korea’s Minister of Science and ICT Yoo Young-min expressed hope that the partnership with Indonesia will be strengthened.
Indonesia’s Minister of Communications and Information Rudiantara welcomed this opportunity for closer ties with South Korea as this will help boost the digital education for his country’s young generation.
Having South Korea’s support will enable the development of Indonesia’s human resources. Digital education will provide the younger generation opportunities to upskill and get training.
Indonesia proposed implementing the B to B model, which can be achieved by collaborating with South Korean companies that are based in Indonesia.
Indonesia hopes that this model will encourage the companies to provide vocational and on-the-job training and internships for their talented youth.
G20 Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Digital Economy
Reportedly, Ministers from the Group of 20 agreed on guiding principles for using artificial intelligence (AI).
The G20 guidelines call for users and developers of AI to be fair and accountable, with transparent decision-making processes.
They should also respect the rule of law and values including privacy, equality, diversity, and internationally recognised labour rights.
The Ministers also agreed to work toward enabling the free flow of data across borders based on trust, recognising that information is a powerful resource for driving economic growth while acknowledging privacy and security concerns.
This concept is called the Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT).
The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.