VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The government of Indonesia will hold an Indonesian-African Forum in Bali on 10^th and 11^th April. Director of African Region at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Daniel Simanjuntak said that in Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi’s last year’s statement, she pointed out some strategies of Indonesian diplomacy to Africa; one of which is Indonesian-African Forum. In the same year, on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting, President Joko Widodo said that Indonesia would implement the Indonesian-African Forum. In a press briefing held on Friday (January 19), Daniel Simanjuntak remarked that this forum is a historic one. Because for the first time, the government more concretely seeks to explore economic cooperation with African countries. The main objective of this forum is to see and discuss improvement of cooperation. In addition, through this forum, hopefully, there are some business agreements by state-own companies or private sectors.

“…Now in the preparation for the Indonesian-African Forum, the government cooperates with the private sectors especially with Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) and state-owned enterprises. We try to explore what can be achieved in the Indonesian-African Forum,” Daniel Simanjuntak said.

Daniel Simanjuntak further explained that since Indonesia has initiated the Asian-African Conference, Indonesia seeks to make more concrete cooperation in the economic field that benefits both Indonesia and Africa. On the same occasion, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir explained that the forum becomes one of the focuses of Indonesian diplomacy and the diplomatic work of the Foreign Affairs Ministry this year.//// VOI-Sekarsari/Nrl/Rahmana)