A very important day today. Xi Jinping and Joe Biden will meet in
Bali. The first face to face meeting.
What does this do for the profile of Bali in Indonesia?
And what would you hope to gain from this notoriety and the G 20?
It's huge. Last night, Steve, and thank you for
having me. I had the honor to on behalf of the
country to welcome President Biden 940 5 p.m.
with Air Force One landing in Bali. And he's looking very fresh eyes,
looking very excited.
He arrived in wonderful Indonesia, Balinese dancers together with us
greeting him. So he was very optimistic.
And I think it's going to be a historic meeting with president see later today.
And we will push on. Also, the issues of recovered together
recover stronger, which is a central theme, as well as on digitalisation, on
health, as well as sustainability. So for global prosperity and the global
economy as well as geopolitically, what do you hope comes of this meeting?
Expectations are fairly low. Yes, because of the geopolitical
situations. But this is Bali.
Bali, as you call it, the island of the gods.
So anything is possible. So Bali's also known for the mornings of
the world. So its endless possibilities.
And I think with the settings, with not only sun, sea and sand, Steve,
but also serenity, spirituality and sustainability, I hope there are huge
issues that will be resolved in this summit.
And I think we could march towards recovery to get there.
How stronger, how encouraged are you by moves in China, at least initial moves
to relax zero Covid reducing the quarantine?
I think 19 percent of overseas visitors to Indonesia and Bali come from China.
That's 1 in 5. And they've been non-existent 0 0 for
the last three years. How encouraged are you that he is
relaxing, that potentially relaxing, then getting the Chinese back?
They spend the most per capita as well. We are very encouraged.
It's absolutely critical. And we're watching the development very
closely. China was consistently top three of the
foreign tourists arrival and lately has been number one.
But since Covid, they have dropped out of the top and obviously because of the
zero progress policy. And we are really banking on the shift
in the policy and we are projecting that by 2023.
We're starting to receive tourist arrivals from China.
And we're very excited because it's going to be jobs that will be created.
There will be four point four million new jobs by 2024 for these sectors.
Well, tell me about that. You're ahead of the creative economy.
You want to transform Indonesia. You are also competing against other
regional centres for global talent. You've announced this soon to be
implemented. Second home visa foreigners who come
with one hundred and thirty thousand U.S.
dollars in their pocket, which is not necessarily a lot on a global
perspective, but again, it can get upwards of a 10 year visa.
What are you trying to achieve with this?
So we're trying to achieve one target. Bali in particular, and other
destinations in Indonesia focusing on quality and sustainability type of
tourism. So for digital economies, we have a new
sets of visa with electronic visa on arrival with seamless.
You got the approval, even pre departure you got here.
You don't have to check your visa on immigrations.
It will be less than a few minutes for you and you're out the door that will be
catered to our digital economy three to six months.
They can stay here. And then for a longer us staying, we
call it the silver economies. People want to spend years in Bali.
We are offering a second home visa and it's already implemented for up to 10
years. And this is something that I think will
be the game changer for Indonesia stories.
It's going to be a longer length of stay quality spending to local economies and
jobs will be created. You want to get creative economy, movie
producers, TV producers? Yes.
All of that, right? Yes.
Also, we're just hearing right now, you know, Elon Musk is giving his address to
the big 20. He's talking about a more affordable
electric vehicle, a more affordable Tesla.
There's been lots of talk here in Indonesia about these and even purchased
subsidies. And I talked to Indica and.
They're doing batteries. They're doing evey vehicles, commercial
vehicles. How important is that to you as a
creative economy minister? It's hugely important because we are
transforming destinations to green destinations and smart
destinations. So news due out, for instance.
We're here at the heart of Indonesia's tourism hub.
This will be completely, totally powered by electric vehicle.
I was on IndyCar Foxconn bus last night and we are seeing numbers of requests
for electric vehicle hit through the roof.
Even if you're applying to buy now, you will only get
delivery 18 months from now. So the demand is there.
We need to work on the supply. And I think Indonesia has the ecosystem
from raw materials to its finished products for electric base vehicles.
Well, Sandy, we know used were a private business.
You became one of the most wealthy individuals here in Indonesia.
You ran for vice president. You are tourism minister now.
Do you have further political aspirations?
Will you run for president in February 2024?
Right now, my job is to serve President Jokowi.
And I think political parties will determine their nominations by October,
exactly about a year from now. I'm going to focus on making sure that I
do my jobs well and let the political parties decide.
I'm I think Indonesia has been so great for us.
I've built my business from zero to about 30000 employees.
Now it's time to give back and contribute to our beloved nation coming
back to Jakarta or Bali in October to get your decision whether you're running
or not. OK.