The kind of partnership between Indonesia and donor countries may be seen clearly in the

relationship between the Indonesian government and the Japanese government. The importance
of Japan's engagement with Indonesia in South-South Cooperation cannot be overstated. Because
Indonesia is the recipient of the greatest Japanese aid, it is expected to play a significant role in
South-South Cooperation. Indonesia's status as a tropical country, according to JICA, is
particularly favorable since it can help other tropical countries. Furthermore, collaborating with
Indonesia, which is extremely favorable to Japan, would be an efficient approach to increase pro-
Japanese sentiment in Asia and emerging countries in general.1
Indonesia's participation in working with JICA is highlighted by the concept of South-
South Technical Cooperation (SSTC). Since 1969, the Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA) has been actively involved in giving aid to Indonesia. The Third Country Training
Program (TCTP) and the Third Country Expert Program (TCEP) are two ways in which JICA's
SSTC is implemented (TCE). The TCTP program is a training program that sends participants
from various developing nations to Indonesia for training. More than 700 TCTP participants
from 51 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region visited Indonesia
between 2003 and 2007. Meanwhile, Indonesian experts are sent to other developing nations as
part of the TCE program to assist with the implementation of the JICA Technical Cooperation
Project. Fifty Indonesian experts were dispatched to Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Nepal,
Tanzania, Madagascar, and Papua New Guinea between 1994 and 2007.2 Indonesia, according to
the Japanese government, has the potential to play a larger role in the development of South-
South Cooperation in the future while Indonesia is the largest economy in the ASEAN area, in
addition to being the only Southeast Asian country to be a member of the G-20.

1
Yuri Sato, et. al., Socioeconomic Study for Assisting Formulation of New JICA’s County
Assistance Strategy for Indonesia, Executive Summary (May: 2008), p. 31
2
“South-South Technical Cooperation”, JICA Indonesia Office