PT Jawa Satu Power, a joint venture between state-owned energy giant Pertamina and Japan’s Marubeni and Sojitz Corporation, is currently in the process of developing the Java 1 power plant in Karawang, West Java, with a total investment value of around $1.8 billion.

The Java 1 facility, expected to commence operations in mid-2021, will have a total capacity of 1,760 megawatts (MW), enough to supply electricity to about 11 million households in Indonesia.

“Efficiency in power plants is important to maintain competitive and affordable electricity rates for the public. Our high-efficiency gas turbine called GE 9HA.02 and asset performance management software will play their role for those purposes,” GE Indonesia president and CEO Handry Satriago said in a statement.

Jawa Satu Power President Director Ginanjar has high hopes that GE’s gas turbines will provide reliable and clean energy to the public.

It has also signed a 25-year agreement with GE Power Services, which provides operations and maintenance management for gas plant assets.

TECHNOLOGY company Diebold Nixdorf aims to capitalise on the expansion plans of Myanmar banks, providing the software and hardware – including automatic teller machines (ATMs) – that will underpin their rollout of banking services nationwide, said Piers Leach, the firm’s country manager for Myanmar.

“With the ATM expansion of local banks in rural areas, we will see additional expansion with cash recycling machines and forex machines in rural and less populated areas. They will require machines, equipment, technology and professional services that we are happy to support,” said Leach, who expects the company to enjoy higher growth in Myanmar this year.

Leach, in an exclusive interview, said Myanmar banks are keen to exploit the latest technology to ensure customer satisfaction. He believes technology used by Myanmar’s banking sector is on a par with that of other Asean countries, including Malaysia and Thailand, and will evolve rapidly.

According to available statistics, there are more than 3,000 ATMs in Myanmar, and the firm has acquired over 50 per cent of the market share for them, despite intense competition with four main competitors. The firm sells all its machines through three sales partners in the country.

“We are still the market leader, and all the major banks including CB, KBZ, Aya, Yoma and AGD are our customers. We deal with most of the private banks, and will carry on growing the business and continue support to customers here,” Leach said.

The executive stressed the importance of the firm’s cooperation with CB Bank, which has been expanding in foreign exchange and cash recycling.

The firm provides professional services for all of CB Bank’s 700-plus ATMs across the nation. According to the contract, the bank aims to double its size of ATM network with the firm’s technology.

Leach said the had firm had enjoyed healthy growth since opening its Yangon office in January last year.

“Within one year, we are where we expected we should be. Our growth is better than expected,” he said.

He considers Myanmar banks’ expansion of their ATM network, the need for equipment, and their thirst for the latest technology will be the major drivers of the firm’s growth. He believes the firm’s in-country presence can fuel the growth thanks to providing customer convenience.

“For us, it is really important to open the office here. If they have any issues, customers can directly reach us. We are close to customers and can better understand them. We can be their preferred choices of supply because we are here,” he said.

The firm now has over 40 employees in Myanmar – most of them are skilled engineers who provide technical support and professional maintenance. They are based in six major locations across Myanmar to fix any technical problems as quickly as possible.

Except for Leach, all the employees are locals, with over 30 per cent them women.

Leach said the employees were trained through the firm’s global training programme to build up their capacity. He hopes to hire more staff when the business expands.

“We hired talented local staff, and they have been trained with a global perspective. We keep on building the team. If anybody leaves, we will have a replacement shortly,” he said.

“We have trained our employees to make sure their ability is good enough to take higher positions if necessary.”

The firm mainly focuses on the banking and retail industries, and is also looking at opportunities to expand to money services in cooperation with local partners.

“Currently, the majority of our customers are from the banking industry. But we are looking to expand into retail,,” he said.

“We have partnered with some major retailers in the market including supermarkets and convenience stores, and also hope to get some businesses with City Mart Holdings. All the retailers are looking to improve the current technology, and City Mart will probably be going on the same direction.”

Leach said things had been smooth for the firm in Myanmar, despite the country’s low ranking in World Bank’s “Doing Business” report.

“We have not faced many business obstacles as we grow. Things are not going to change overnight,” he said. “We are continuously seeing improvements, and the government is trying to make things easier for foreign businesses. So, things are getting better and easier for us to work here.”

In the next three years, Leach foresees a lot of innovations, particularly in the banking industry. He seems optimistic about the firm’s growth in Myanmar, with support from the company’s other offices in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Myanmar has some advantages over Thailand, Malaysia and other Asean countries. You can evolve very quickly,” he said.

“The government is doing a relatively good job. It is going to take a long time but you cannot expect changes overnight. It is a process that will come for sure.”

Speaking at an Asean-Australia business summit, Turnbull said Australia will continue to work with its closest neighbours in the region on trade liberalisation.

“You dont grow stronger by closing the door to other markets. Protectionism is a dead end. It is not a ladder to get you out of the low-growth trap. It’s a shovel to dig it much deeper,” he said.

“We must face the world, not turn from it. Embrace free trade, not retreat from it, and do so on the basis of strong and transparent rules, fair and open competition and non-discriminatory legislation.”

Turnbull’s remarks echoed those made by Lee on Thursday in an interview with Australian media, in which he said that recent moves by the United States to protect its domestic industries have raised the spectre of tit-for-tat trade wars.

He warned that steps taken by US President Donald Trump, such as imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, set a precedent and countries were now “under pressure to retaliate”.

Speaking at the business summit yesterday, Lee noted that Asean continues to work towards strengthening regional economic integration.

“The global mood may be moving in the opposite direction, but within Asean, within Southeast Asia, we are trying our best to strive forward to deepen integration, to deepen interdependence, to work together to trade and open up markets, to co-prosper together.”

In one such move, Asean and Australia will work together on a new Digital Standards Cooperation Initiative, said Turnbull.

These will be a set of standards to make it easier for businesses to conduct cross-border digital trade.

“The digital trade standards will underpin the benefits of new technologies, everything from big data to artificial intelligence, and harness the opportunities they bring to our region,” he said.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s remarks come amid a global firestorm sparked by tariffs on steel and aluminium imports announced by US President Donald Trump.

The standards will ensure that the region can tap the potential of digital trade to gain greater acess to markets and secure a more certain online environment in which to do business, he added.

“It will show the world yet again what can be achieved when nations work together.”

Lee welcomed the initiative, saying it is a good first step in developing interoperable digital standards, which will facilitate trade and reduce costs for businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.

During Singapore’s Asean chairmanship this year, Asean is pursuing an agreement on e-commerce to streamline the varying regulatory systems across member states and make electronic transactions safer and more convenient, he added.

Lee noted that Asean’s growing digital economy is a compelling area of opportunity for Australian businesses.

“Though still in its infancy, it is fast becoming more vibrant. In 2017, Southeast Asian start-ups attracted a record US$8 billion from investors; these startups include Grab, Go-Jek, and Southeast Asia, which have quickly become household names,” he said.

Asean is a compelling market for Australian businesses for other reasons, he added.

Asean’s economic fundamentals are sound and the prospects for growth are strong and its combined population is expected to become the fourth-largest in the world by 2030, he noted.

Incomes are also growing, with Asean’s annual consumer spending forecast to reach US$2.3 trillion by 2020, he said.

More than 60 per cent of its population is under 35 years old, which means a steady workforce and a growing consumer market in coming years, he added.

The business summit is taking place on the sidelines of the 3rd Singapore-Australia Leaders’ Summit and the Asean-Australia Special Summit. Lee is in Sydney until tomorrow to attend both events.

Japan International Cooperation Agency senior representative Tetsuya Yamada said on Thursday that the first tranche of the loan agreement for the underground railroad to be signed would be slapped an interest rate of 0.1 per cent a year and a repayment period of 40 years, including a 12-year grace period.

While the Metro Manila Subway Project Phase 1 is projected to cost 356.9 billion peso, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier expressed their intention to possibly lend a total of up to 600 billion yen or about 294.8 billion peso, Yamada said, citing the Japan-Philippines Joint Statement on Bilateral Cooperation for the Next Five Years issued in October.

The subway will be the biggest Philippine infrastructure project to be funded by Japanese official development assistance.

It will connect Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City and Food Terminal Inc. in Taguig City, with a spur line to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The construction of the 36-kilometer subway, whose implementation was green-lighted by the National Economic and Development Authority Board chaired by President Duterte in September, will begin next year.

The subway will be completed by 2025, although three of the 14 stations were targeted to be in operation as early as 2022.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said last month that they planned to fast-track the partial opening of the subway system to the fourth quarter of 2021.

In a statement posted on its website, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa) said that the subway “will contribute to relieving serious traffic congestion in Metro Manila by meeting growing transportation demand, as well as easing |atmospheric pollution and climate change.”

“The new subway is estimated to transport approximately 500,000 passengers per day in 2027 (two years after the completion of the project), and to reduce the time required for moving from Mindanao Avenue station to FTI station to 30 minutes by express train, where it currently takes approximately two hours by car,” Mofa said.

The project is thus expected to contribute to sustainable economic growth through the promotion of investment in the Philippines, Mofa added. Documents last month showed that Japan would finance 19 infrastructure projects worth at least P753 billion in support of the Duterte administration’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” programme.

While mentions of robots, nuclear reactors and artificial intelligence appeared in presentations during a technology conference in Phnom Penh on Thursday, speakers agreed that the Kingdom has been slow to adopt these technologies due to a lack of education.

The 2018 Cambodia Outlook Conference, which was jointly hosted by the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) and ANZ Royal Bank, opened with remarks from Prime Minister Hun Sen, who admitted that Cambodia has been lagging behind its regional partners and reasserted his commitment to increasing investment in the tech sector.

According to the premier, Cambodia allocated just 0.12 per cent of its GDP to science and technology research in 2015, compared to the 0.63 percent and 1.3 percent of GDP invested by Thailand and Malaysia, respectively. He went on to promise Cambodia would increase its level to 0.2 per cent by 2020, and accelerate investment to reach 1 per cent by 2025 and 1.5 per cent by 2030.

Following the prime minister’s remarks, discussions between technology experts from Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore – some of the most technologically advanced nations in the region-focused on a singular theme: Cambodia’s need for a better education system. According to Sok Siphana, the outgoing chairman of the CDRI board of directors, government policy is already struggling to keep up with recent advancements in tech due to a lack of education among legislators. – The Phnom Penh Post

Singapore exports see surprise drop in February

Singapore’s exports defied economist expectations to post an unexpected decline last month.

Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) shrank 5.9 per cent in February from the same month a year earlier. This was the first decline since September last year and was likely due in part to the Chinese New Year, which started on February 16.

The latest number disappointed economists who were expecting a 4.8 per cent expansion, and was also much weaker than January’s 12.9 per cent rise.

Both electronics and non-electronics shipments declined in February.

Electronic NODX declined by 12.3 per cent in February, following a 3.9 per cent decrease in the previous month.

Meanwhile, non-electronic NODX slid 3.4 per cent in after a 20.7 per cent surge in the previous month. NODX to majority of Singapore’s top markets decreased in February, except the United States, Japan and South Korea. The decline was led by China, the European Union and Taiwan. – The Straits Times

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mah Siew Keong said he would not rule out Malaysia stopping import of goods from the EU if the ban were to go through.

“We are taking a lot of efforts to fight the challenge. If the EU takes unfair actions against our palm oil, it will jeopardise the livelihood of our 650,000 oil palm smallholders.

“We do not want any conflict but if the EU presses us, I think nobody will benefit. There are bound to be retaliatory actions,” he told Bernama and the New Straits Times.

In January 2018, the European Parliament approved a draft proposal to ban palm oil in biofuel beginning 2021, a decision that would potentially affect the livelihood of millions of oil palm growers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Following the move, Mah travelled to several key European countries in February, including France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain and Germany, to seek support and to campaign against the ban.

“Most of them are receptive. We have explained that they cannot blame palm oil unfairly, and I am confident these countries will not take action that discriminates against palm oil.

“If they stop buying our palm oil, we will stop buying their products,” he said, adding that the government also highlighted the issue with the World Trade Organisation.

The EU imported 2.06 million tonnes of palm oil worth RM10 billion from Malaysia in 2017, while the country’s total exports of palm oil increased to RM78bil last year from RM67.8mil in 2016. Mah said that palm oil, a very competitive edible oil, was a victim of its own success.

“They gang up against palm oil because palm oil is increasing its domination in the world market. In the 90s, palm oil only accounted for 10 per cent of the global vegetable oil market.

“Now it dominates 60 per cent and if the trend continues, palm oil will be go on (to dominate) 80 to 90 per cent (of the world market),” he said.