Trade Door Opens to Kalimantan
28 Jul - 3 Aug 2025. Issue 48.
This last week we’ve reached a major milestone: a free-trade deal allowing duty-free movement of goods and services across the Sarawak and Kalimantan border. Just like that, a market of nearly a million people is now available to Kuching businesses. I froth with excitement in my op-ed but also advise some caution before stepping into the ‘new’ territory.
I visited Pontianak as a teenager - regrettably, that was decades ago, so my knowledge of the journey and the place is indubitably outdated. Thankfully Sarawak Tribune shared a helpful, more updated experience of what the journey is like. (See Sidenote)
This week’s infographic compares Kuching to Pontianak and Singkawang. Interestingly, Indonesia publishes GDP per capita by major cities, not just by state as we do. So there’s more granularity in understanding their economy. We all have something we can learn from each other.
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Read the op-ed here: