VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo and Italian Minister of Agrigulture, Food and Forestry, Teresia Bellanova signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) about the strengthening of cooperation of both countries in the promotion of agricultural products. The signing of the MoU was conducted when the two Ministers met in Rome Italy on Monday (20/1/2020). The bilateral cooperation covers culture, agricultural mechanism, water resources management, education and training, research and capacity building of human resurces.

During the meeting, Indonesian and Italian Ministers Syahrul Yasin Limpo and Teresa Bellanova discussed a number of issues, particularly in increasing of trade and investment values in the field of agriculture between the two countries. Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo mentioned about the superiority of Indonesian agricultural commodities such as palm oil, rubber, tropical fruits, tea and spices. He also explained that Indonesian products have met the European Union standards on health. Thereby, the products can be exported to the EU markets, including Italy. He also stressed that Indonesian agricultural sector has applied Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) method, and managed sustainably.Moreover, Minister Syahrul called for Italian investors to invest in the sector of agriculture and livestock in Indonesia.

In a special occassion, both Ministers discussed about Indonesian palm oil exports. As it is known that the commodity is used to managing food industry as well as bio-diesel material in Italy. Responding the case, Minister  Teresa Bellanova said that she understood the explanation about the role of palm oil plantation in providing employment and eradicating poverty in Indonesia.

Menawhile, Indonesian Ambassador to Italy, Esti Andayani evaluated that the signing of the MoU between Indonesia and Italy can intensively  strengthen the relationship of the both countries and encourage development  in agricultural sector in Indonesia.  Ambassador Esti Andayani said that the MoU will facilitate the implementation of exchange information of agriculture, training for capacity building and joint research of the two countries’ agriculture research centers.

Indonesia and Italy have good relations which have been established since 1959 and they just celebrated the 70th diplomatic relations in 2019. Italy is the 3rd biggest trade partner for Indonesia among the EU countries. During theJanuary-November 2019 period, the trade values of the two countries reached to US$3.17 billion dollars.