VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The government is targeting transactions at the 2020 Indonesia, Latin America, and Caribbean Islands (INA-LAC) business forum event to double from last year's event.

"We hope that the business transactions that can be obtained at the INA-LAC business forum this year will be doubled when compared to last year's figures," said Director General of America and Europe from Foreign Ministry, I Gede Ngurah Swajaya, in his remarks at the opening ceremony INA-LAC 2020 in Jakarta, Monday.

INA-LAC is a business meeting event started by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2019. The forum which is held regularly every year aims to connect the business community in Indonesia and Latin America, and the Caribbean.

For this year, INA-LAC takes place on 9-11 November 2020 and most events are held via virtual forums. At the 2019 INA-LAC meeting, the total transaction value collected reached the US $33.12 million (around Rp.465.33 billion).

"Most of the transactions were obtained from the mining sector," said Ngurah Swajaya. At least 33 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean have joined the INA-LAC business forum.

The two regions have a total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) value of up to 5.71 trillion US dollars (around Rp.81,209 trillion).

For this year's business forum, several memoranda of understanding (MoU) were signed during the opening ceremony, including the signing of the MoU on the cooperation of quality assurance of halal products between Indonesia and Chile; MoU between PT Sarinah (Persero) and multinational retail company Dufry International AG and Grupo Industrial Omega SA de CV (Mexico); MoU between CAMCO Rattan Muebles (Mexico) and Naza Art Furniture; MoU on the cooperation of nuclear technology applications of PT Inuki (Persero) and the Mexico Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares (ININ); and the MoU between the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) and the Peruvian Hotel, Restaurant and Business Related Association (AHORA).

Not only that, INA-LAC this year also facilitated the issuance of a letter of interest for cooperation (LoI) for the construction of a trade center for Indonesian products in Brazil between the Association of Indonesian Food and Beverage Entrepreneurs (GAPMMI) and a Brazilian importer, BADAX.

Finally, the event also facilitated the signing of an exclusive distribution cooperation agreement between BADAX Commercial Brazil and Magnetar Global International (Kokola Group).

During the opening ceremony, Indonesia and Colombia also launched joint stamps specially designed to commemorate 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries this year.

In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Retno Marsudi also inaugurated the official website "www.ina-lac.com" which is intended for the promotion of export products and investment-ready projects, as well as information channels on economic development in Indonesia, as well as countries in America Latin and the Caribbean.

The page also offers a virtual business meet-up feature that entrepreneurs from two regions can take advantage of. Through this website, the Indonesian government offers around 108 ready-to-invest projects spread across 11 provinces, namely East Java, Central Java, West Java, DKI Jakarta, West Nusa Tenggara, East Kalimantan, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Lampung, North Sulawesi, and Riau. (Antaranews)