Current Position : Under Control of Sri Mulyani, Indonesian Finance Minister, who has biggest power under Jokowi administration when it comes to state budget
Indonesia remains committed to continuing KFX/IFX cooperation with Korea
Jumat, 27 Oktober 2023 21:53 WIB
The Indonesian Ministry of Defense stated that it remains committed to continuing cooperation in developing the KFX/IFX fighter aircraft with South Korea.
“This is cooperation between countries and a national priority program. "As for the state program, whoever the government is, it must continue," said the Director of Defense Technology and Industry, Directorate General of Defense Potential, Ministry of Defense, First Marshal TNI Dedy Laksmono in a workshop organized by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) in Jakarta, Friday.
He made this statement in response to the issue of stalled payments on Indonesia's cost share commitment for the KFX/IFX project, even though according to the initial agreement in 2014 Indonesia was charged 20 percent of the total cost of developing the fighter aircraft.
Meanwhile, 60 percent of the total cost of the project worth 8.8 trillion won or Rp. 100 trillion is the responsibility of the Korean government, and 20 percent comes from the aircraft manufacturing company Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
Dedy admitted that the limitations of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget were an obstacle in paying Indonesia's cost-share, which reached around IDR 14 trillion until 2026 for the development, engineering and manufacturing phases.
According to him, the Ministry of Defense is only able to allocate around IDR 1.5 trillion per year for contributions to the development of KFX/IFX, an amount that is far from enough to pay Indonesia's obligations.
"For our budget at the Ministry of Defense, this obligation is very difficult. We have proposed increasing the budget, but the Minister of Finance said it was not possible," said Dedy.
Therefore, the Indonesian and Korean governments are still negotiating to find a solution to this problem. "In the future, we hope to be able to fulfill this obligation. Because we are also embarrassed, it seems like we have agreed but in the process it won't happen because there are APBN limitations," said Dedy.
Meanwhile, KAI Indonesia Office Chief Representative Officer Woo Bong Lee said that the Korean side had allocated as much funds as possible to continue the KFX/IFX project.
“We have increased the budget as much as we can get, even by borrowing money from the bank. "Now we are waiting for the money to come from the Indonesian side," said Lee.
He hopes that the governments of the two countries can immediately find a middle way to overcome this funding obstacle, so that the partnership between Korea and Indonesia can continue to be maintained.
“In our opinion, the Korean government will not take a bad decision on this issue. "And as far as I know, the Korean and Indonesian governments are still discussing this issue to find the best solution," he said.
Kementerian Pertahanan Indonesia menyatakan tetap berkomitmen untuk melanjutkan kerja sama pengembangan pesawat tempur KFX/IFX dengan Korea ...
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