VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia and Italy held the Indonesia-Italy Business Forum (IIBF) in Milan, Italy, to strengthen bilateral cooperation in trade and investment between both nations.

The forum, attended by 100 businessmen from the two countries, managed to attract 47 Italian businessmen to establish business and investment cooperation.

"Indonesia and Italy have forged cooperation in various sectors. The cooperation has potential to be further enhanced, particularly in the economic sector," Indonesian Ambassador to Italy Esti Andayani remarked in a statement in Jakarta on Wednesday.

During the forum, businessmen from Italy expressed interest to hold business meetings with eight Indonesian businessmen, and they had potential to make business deals, the ambassador noted.

The IIBF 2019 was organized as part of a series of activities held to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Italy.

The event was co-organized by the Indonesian Embassy in Rome, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Italian Trade Agency (ITA-ICE), the Confindstria, and Italian Chamber of Commerce for Southeast Asia.

Zulfikri, the Indonesian Transportation Ministry's Director General for Railway Affairs, officially opened the forum by delivering a presentation on "Indonesia Railway Outlook Toward 2030."

A panel discussion was later organized to explore business and investment opportunities in the fields of infrastructure, telecommunication, transportation industry, and creative economy.

On the same day, Ambassador Esti Andayani, in the company of the Indonesian Embassy's Trade Attaché Silvi Charlote and Head of the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in Milan Narita Nurindah, paid a visit to Fresh Tropial Srl company in Milan.

The company is an importer of Indonesian products, particularly instant noodles, and a distributor of Indofood products since 2017.

"We are optimistic that Fresh Tropical Srl would import more Indonesian products, such as fresh fruits as well as fishery and halal products," Charlote stated.

Jawad S. Cheema, the owner of Fresh Tropical company, noted that his company had imported Indonesian fresh fruits, especially mangosteen and passion fruit, via its partner in France. (ANTARA)

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan is confident about Indonesia becoming part of the global supply chain in the electric car industry in the subsequent five years.

"I am optimistic that Indonesia would become part of the global supply chain in the next five years. As much as 70 percent of the raw materials required for the production of lithium batteries are produced in Indonesia. It also has abundant rubber and tin," Pandjaitan noted in a statement in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The minister made the statement on the sidelines of an annual Leader's Retreat in Singapore on Tuesday (Oct 8) while accompanying President Joko Widodo.

As the biggest producer in the mining sector, he believes Indonesia should have the power to determine the price of the commodity.

Pandjaitan believes Indonesia has shifted its focus from exporting raw material to processed products.


"The people of Indonesia should be able to get the added value of its mining products," he stated. (ANTARA)

The government is open to foreign investors that can apply environment-friendly technology, conduct transfer of technology, absorb local workers, and develop the industry, from its upstream to downstream sectors.

"We are open to foreign investors, whether they come from the Middle East, the United States, Europe, or China. As long as you can meet the four requirements, there would be no problem," he noted.

The Indonesian Pavilion garnered the Best Travel Destination Award at the Gauteng Getaway tourism exhibition organized in Johannesburg, South Africa, on October 4-6, 2019.

"We are confident to say that Indonesia has become a popular tourist destination for South African travelers. Here, we will easily find advertising and tour package promotions to Bali," Indonesian Ambassador to South Africa Salman Al Farisi stated.

Ambassador Al Farisi opined that the exhibition offered the people of South Africa a glimpse into hundreds of other choices of tourist destinations in Indonesia that are no less interesting than Bali.

"I believe that the potential to bring more tourists from South Africa is wide open," he emphasized.

Visitors have thronged the Indonesian Pavilion, strategically located in the middle of Ticket Pro Dome, Johannesburg, during the three-day exhibition.

The Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria, Indonesian Trade and Promotion Center (ITPC) in Johannesburg, and the Ministry of Tourism adorned the Indonesian Pavilion with a Hindu temple gate and images of tourist destinations in Indonesia, such as Labuan Bajo, Borobudur temple, Mount Bromo, and Lake Toba.

The selection of tourist destinations highlighted at the Pavilion was in keeping with the priorities of the Tourism Ministry that is currently promoting the "10 New Balis."



Ambassador Al Farisi expounded that the Indonesian Pavilion at the Johannesburg tourism exhibition proffers genuine experiences to every arriving visitor. The Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria invited dancers, who performed several traditional dance forms, such as the Balinese Legong Dance, East Kalimantan Hornbill Dance and the West Java Peacock Dance.

The dancers, who then invited guests to join in their performance, further enlivened the atmosphere at the Indonesian Pavilion, thereby effectively attracting visitors, including also presenting them with an opportunity to sample Indonesian specialties, such as rendang, yellow rice, and peanut crackers.

The synergy conducted by ITPC Johannesburg, the Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria, and Ministry of Tourism resulted in the Indonesian Pavilion being bestowed the "Best Travel Destination" award.

The Ministry of Tourism conducted varied promotional strategies to boost foreign tourist visits to Indonesia, one of them being to send various sales missions to potential markets and participating in international tourism exhibitions, such as the Gauteng Gateway.

South Africa is viewed as a strategic and potential market, given the positive trend of increasing number of travelers from this country to Indonesia on an annual basis.

Gauteng Getaway is one of the largest tourism exhibitions in South Africa that presents hundreds of tour and travel vendors, including providers of outdoor activities.  (ANTARA)

The Industry Ministry is drawing up strategic steps directed at speeding up transformation of Industry 4.0 in the country’s manufacturing sector.

The strategic steps entail driving productivity, increasing the competitive edge of export products, and strengthening manufacturing structures, Head of Industrial Research and Development (BPPI) at the Industry Ministry Ngakan Timur noted in a written statement released on Wednesday.

"To achieve the target, we need to create a conducive investment climate and activate activities for the development of resources, drive potential economic sectors, and keep our macroeconomic condition stable," he stated.

He believes that the matter would materialize if ministries were to synergize and collaborate with all related stakeholders.

"We must realize the commitment together. To accelerate it (the realization of the commitment), we need to direct transformation towards Industry 4.0," he stated.

Timur noted that the Industry Ministry had assessed the level of preparedness on the part of several domestic industrial sectors to drive transformation in pursuit of Industry 4.0.

He explained that the food and beverage, textile and garment, chemical, automotive, and electronic industries were among the priority sectors to implement the first phase of transformation in accordance with the roadmap for "Making Indonesia 4.0," he stated.

"We call the indicator to assess Indonesia’s level of industry readiness in implementing Industry 4.0 as Industry 4.0 Readiness Index (INDI 4.0). The objective is to see the level of preparedness of industries that we can assess. In addition, we have built the ecosystem of industry 4.0 and developed the concept of green industry," he remarked.

The Industry Ministry has, until now, conducted an assessment of 326 manufacturing companies, and the results indicate that several of them were ready for transformation towards Industry 4.0, he explained.

"We have also provided technical guidance to both managers and engineers of companies on transformation towards Industry 4.0," he remarked.

The ministry expects SINDI 4.0 (Ecosystem Indonesia 4.0), the ecosystem of Industry 4.0, to be able to serve as a means to build synergy and collaboration among parties to speed up transformation towards Industry 4.0, he explained.