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NUSA DUA -The Government of Indonesia, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will encourage the addition of representative offices of African countries in Indonesia.
The move is to encourage increased cooperation between Indonesia and African countries.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi acknowledged that at least the number of representative offices of African countries in Indonesia makes there is limited information in terms of exploring potential economic cooperation.
“On the issue of the limitations of this information, what I want to do is increase the African countries to open representatives in Indonesia,” he said in a panel discussion entitled Indonesian Economic Diplomacy to Africa in the series of Indonesia Africa Forum (IAF) 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Tuesday (10/4/2018).
Through the enhancement of diplomatic cooperation, Retno said the Indonesian government wants to convert political relations into economic relations.
“For Africa, we have a big room to create this [Indonesia-Africa] cooperation forum,” he explained.
African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert M. Muchanga said the addition of representative offices of African countries in Indonesia is very important because the diplomats can overcome the limitations of coordination and information.
“Currently, there are only 12 African countries that have representation in Indonesia,” he said.
For the record, the number of countries located in Africa reaches more than 50 countries.
On that occasion, Muchanga invited businessmen from Indonesia to join the first trade show to be held the African Union on December 17, 2018.
“We are targeting 1,000 exhibitors with transaction value of US $ 20 million-US $ 25 million,” he said.
As a financial institution that gets a special assignment in export financing, Indonesia Eximbank CEO Sintya Roesli says it is ready to support trade cooperation between Indonesia and Africa.
“Currently, the value of export financing to Africa is only 10% of total financing, so there is a lot of potential for Indonesia to enter,” he explained.
In addition to funding exports, Indonesia Eximbank also plays a role in financing imports of raw materials from Africa. Currently, the company has provided financing for imports of cocoa and cotton from Africa which are then produced domestically before being exported to other countries.
In IAF 2018, Indonesia Eximbank signed a business agreement worth US $ 322.8 million to facilitate trade transactions between Indonesia and Africa.
The agreement was signed with three international financial institutions namely The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) worth US $ 100 million, Standard Chartered Bank with an agreement amounting to US $ 100 million, and with Commerzbank valued at US $ 122.8 million.
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