Indonesia will partner with Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma to look into ways to use of the e-commerce giant’s ecosystem to increase its exports, particularly to China, Communications Minister Rudiantara said on Sunday.
“We are also discussing how to work together to develop tech talents to meet the needs of Indonesia and the region,” Rudiantara said after meeting Ma and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Saturday.
The Alibaba founder and chief executive, who was in Jakarta for the 2018 Asian Games, was named an e-commerce adviser to the Indonesian government in 2017.
McKinsey estimated in a report released on Aug. 30 that the value of Indonesia’s e-commerce market will grow to at least $55 billion by 2022 from $8 billion in 2017.
Alibaba is China’s biggest e-commerce firm, but its ecosystem includes payments platform Alipay and a cloud computing arm.
Rudiantara told Reuters the details of the deal would be finalized during a second visit by Ma in October.