VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian coffee booth is again a magnet at the international coffee exhibition or World of Coffee 2019 held in Berlin, Germany, from June 6 to 8, 2019.

On the first day of the event, the Indonesian booth which was one of those from 24 countries that participated in the exhibition was crowded by visitors, said an Indonesian diplomat in charge of information and socio-cutural affairs at the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin, Hannan Hadi, to Antara in Jakarta on Sunday.

The Indonesian coffee was not only introduced by giving product samples but also offering visitors and coffee lovers to enjoy the aroma and coffee from the archipelago.

The Indonesian Deputy of Mission to Germany, Perry Pada, said he was optimistic that this exhibition would sharpen the competitive edge of the Indonesian coffee on the international market. "From the comments and responses of the visitors to the Indonesian booth, we believe that the number of people who are interested in the Indonesian coffee will increase.. "I even observed that there were several transactions and negotiations that had been discussed with the visiting buyers," Perry said.

The high interest and demand for the Indonesian coffee offer both an opportunity and a challenge. The challenge is how to meet the demand and maintain its quality, he said.

"Domestic demand is also high. We see more Indonesian baristas now. Both domestic consumption and demand for exports are equally important. For this reason, we need to keep encouraging coffee farmers and entrepreneurs," said Perry.

In the exhibition, Indonesia introduced the advantages of Indonesian coffee, especially Arabica coffee. Coffee producing companies Rumah Kayu, and Crop and Roast brought two coffee producers, namely the Indonesian Coffee Farmers Association (APEKI) from Bandung, West Java, and Aurelia Da’Gabo Flores from East Nusa Tenggara..

However, the coffee introduced at the coffee exhibition was not only from Bandung and Flores, but also from Toraja (South Sulawsei) and East Java. Besides the original taste, there are also floral flavors, fruity, caramel, and blueberries.

Chairperson of APEKI's West Bandung chapter, Kurnia Danumiharja who led the Indonesian participants was delighted by the big number of visitors to the Indonesian coffee booth. It turned out that our coffee has a unique character, not only in terms of the taste but also the aroma. The diverse characters of coffee are influenced by the characters of Indonesia's soils that are rich and different, Kurnia said.

World of Coffee 2019 in Berlin brought together more than 300 exhibitors and was attended by around 10,000 visitors. Besides Indonesia, various coffee-producing countries such as Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Japan and China also participated in the exhibition.

In this event, visitors can chat with coffee experts about the taste of coffee and experience, expertise and motivation for processing and developing the coffee business. World of Coffee was previously held in various major cities in Europe, including Amsterdam, Budapest, Dublin, Rimini, and Maastricht.

In the past six years, the organization of World of Coffee has developed into the largest coffee exhibition in Europe. Initially attended by 3,000 visitors, followed by around 45 exhibitors, today the number has increased rapidly to 11,000 visitors, followed by more than 200 participants.

Various activities of World of Coffee are also enlivened with various interactive activities, such as world coffee championships, cupping coffee, seminars and business meetings. (ant) 

Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said the Group of Twenty (G20) forum is making every effort to ease trade war tensions that have the potential to disrupt the performance of global trade.

"We hope for the de-escalation of trade war tensions," he said on the sidelines of the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Digital Trade and Economy held in Tsukuba, Japan, on Sunday.

The effort is necessary to prevent the global trade growth from declining further as projected by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The WTO has projected the global trade will only grow 2.6 percent this year compared to 4.0 percent in 2017 and 3.6 percent in 2018.

Several workers in Surabaya City, East Java, obtained certification to embrace the free trade era of the ASEAN in 2020.

Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini remarked that since a few years, the Surabaya city government had taken preparatory measures in the face of the free trade, starting with the granting of free certificates to some workers.

"We have highlighted the significance of a certificate for people to be ready for the free trade era," Rismaharini remarked in Surabaya on Friday.

Free trade will directly impact the trade of goods and services, particularly in Surabaya City.

The Surabaya mayor pointed to challenges posed in the free trade era in the form of declining employment owing to the impact of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the requirement to meet product standardization.

Since 2016, the Surabaya city government had prepared free certificates to enter the ASEAN free trade era.

"We initiated efforts a few years ago, for instance, by offering free fees for certification for masons and electricians as well as other workers, including our brand rights and patents," Rismaharini stated.

In preparation for the coming free trade era, Rismaharini, concurrently president of the United Cities and Local Government of Asia Pacific (UCLG Aspac), reiterated the significance of certification in ushering in the era of global competition.

The Surabaya mayor has called on the public to come out of their comfort zones, as global competition would become stiffer in future.

Rismaharini remarked that workers in Surabaya had expertise in their fields. However, several of them had yet to obtain certificates supporting their work.

"I have to remind the people to be prepared for everything," she noted.

Rismaharini had launched an application counter for intellectual property rights (HKI) at the One-Stop Integrated Services Unit (UPTSA) of Siola Building.

The quota of some 150 free certificates for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been doled out, and the government will offer more certificates for the management of brand rights or patents to support local MSMEs.

With such a program, MSMEs in Surabaya are expected to be able to compete in the upcoming free trade era.(ant)

The Indonesian Embassy in Windhoek, Namibia, went all out in its efforts to promote Bali's Subak irrigation system as Indonesia's tourist attraction at the largest tourism exhibition in Namibia being held on June 5-8, 2019.

Paulina Gupta Wijaya, an Indonesian diplomat at the embassy's Economic, Information, and Socio-Culture Function, informed ANTARA in Jakarta on Saturday that the Indonesian Embassy's stand bore the theme of green rice fields and the Subak irrigation system in Bali.

The diplomat pointed out that the scenic Indonesian rice fields had drawn hoards of visitors at the Namibia Tourism Expo, as they are different from Namibia's landscape of predominantly deserts and savannas.

Along with bringing the spotlight on Indonesia's myriad tourist destinations, the Indonesian Embassy also seized the opportunity presented by the Namibia Tourism Expo to support superior export products and Indonesian handicrafts. Export products from several companies in Indonesia, such as food products, beverages, palm oil, garments, cleaning tools, and others, were showcased at this exhibition.

Indonesian Ambassador to Namibia Eddy Basuki was upbeat that the economic and tourism promotion programs conducted by the Indonesian Embassy this year would whet the interest of Namibian tourists on vacation in Indonesia and Namibian businessmen doing business with Indonesia. (ant)