VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Promoting business cooperation between Indonesia and the Indonesian Consulate General Cape Town's Accreditation Area, the Indonesian Consul General Cape Town met the CEO of Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber (NMBBC), Denise van Huyssteen in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) Eastern Cape Province (19/10). Gqeberha is 754 km from Cape Town, which can be reached in 8 hours by road.

During the meeting, the Consul General was accompanied by Economic Function Staff and Consular Protocol Consul. While the CEO of NMBBC was accompanied by the Chief Operations Officer (Ashwin Daya) and Acting Director Trade and Investment Economic Development, Tourism and Agriculture (Jeremy Dobbin).

The Consul General said that in 2024 RI-South Africa diplomatic relations will reach 30 years, the two countries have also had a strategic partnership since 2017. The special relationship is an important capital for strengthening cooperation in various fields such as trade, education, health and culture.

The Consul General encouraged concrete efforts to improve relations and cooperation between Indonesia and the Eastern Cape Province which can be started from "low hanging fruits" in order to bring tangible results in the near future.

Meanwhile, the CEO of NMBBC conveyed various advantages of the Eastern Cape in attracting investors and business partners, such as environmentally friendly green energy, pharmaceuticals and medicines, transformation of fossil fuel automotive to environmentally friendly, and climate change.

The NMBBC CEO was also enthusiastic about the planned release of the first container of Cap Lang products to Cape Town on October 26 in Jakarta, which will be attended by the representative of the Indonesian Consulate General in Cape Town. In addition, Indonesian palm oil companies are expected to partner with the Eastern Cape Province. In this regard, it was agreed to plan a workshop meeting by inviting Indonesian palm oil companies (online or offline) in the near future.

The successful Indonesian People's Market in Cape Town is expected to be held in Gqeberha around April 2024. The Indonesian People's Market has attracted the interest of a number of parties, in addition to Gqeberha, the Mossel Bay Municipality has also invited the Indonesian Consulate General in Cape Town to participate in a similar activity at the end of March 2024.

In addition, the CEO of NMBBC is interested in seeing the new capital city of IKN with the concept of green city or forest city which is in line with the mission of green economy and climate change mitigation.

A number of cooperation plans were recorded, including the Indonesian People's Market, a workshop on palm oil business cooperation in Cape Town, pharmaceutical industry cooperation, green economy, and the discourse of establishing an Indonesian Trading House for the promotion and marketing of Indonesian products in the Eastern Cape.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)