AUCKLAND, KOMPAS — The four-day Pacific Exposition held in Auckland recently provided concrete results, as mandated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
The total value of business cooperation and trade transactions signed by Indonesian state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private companies with their partners from Pacific countries reached a total of US$70.03 million (Rp 980.4 billion) during the event.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said that the concrete results of the cooperation in the fields of business and trade in the 2019 Pacific Exposition emphasized the existence of the Republic of Indonesia in the Pacific region.
Indonesia’s initiative to hold such business activities in order to "connect the dots" in Pacific countries received a positive welcome from the governments and private sectors of the Pacific countries.
"This is in accordance with the mandate of President Joko Widodo, everything we do must produce concrete and measurable results," Retno said in Auckland on Saturday evening.
Foreign Ministry director general of the Asia Pacific and Africa Desra Percaya said that business and trade cooperation covered a number of sectors, from the hotel industry and tourism, fisheries, plantations and automotive, to strategic industries.
In addition to business cooperation, a number of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were also signed regarding development efforts in these sectors. According to the Trade Ministry, total trade between Indonesia and countries in the Pacific region was recorded at $10.67 billion in 2018. It rose by 3.05 percent from $10.37 billion in the previous year. During the January-March period, this year, the total trade with the Pacific region reached a total of $2.04 billion.
The biggest destination countries for Indonesian exports to the Pacific region are Australia, New Zealand, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Indonesia\'s main export products to the Pacific region include electronic components, tires, tobacco and palm oil products.
Indonesia\'s imports from the Pacific region include livestock products, wheat, iron ore concentrates and raw sugar.
During the 2019 Pacific Exposition, a number of state-owned enterprises (SOE) took part by opening exhibition stands and being involved in business and trade forums. The SOEs, among others, included all state-owned banks, Pertamina, Telkom, Angkasa Pura and Indonesian national shipping company Pelni.
The private companies included Astra International and Panasonic. The business forum was coordinated by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) with support from the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). The government also invited five provinces, namely East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, West Papua, Maluku and North Maluku to the trade event.
Participants in the business forum consisted of 32 companies from Indonesia and from Pacific countries which looked for partners from Indonesia. These companies were engaged in coffee production, fashion and textile sectors, skilled labor services, furniture, beauty products, food and beverages, agriculture, electronic commerce, tourism, strategic industries, coal, tourism and hospitality, car tires and automotive, energy, mining, fertilizer and financial services.
The Indonesian ambassador to New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga, Tantowi Yahya, said Indonesia\'s vision for tourism in the Pacific was to integrate countries in the Pacific for integrated tourist destination.
The idea was positively welcomed by the government and tourist agents in the Pacific whose economy relied on tourism.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the initiative had national and regional dimensions and was in line with the Tourism Ministry’s Bali and Beyond program.
"From the beginning, we supported the Pacific Exposition as forum for discussing this great idea. Indeed, this idea will not be realized in a single meeting, but at least we have begun to discuss this discourse," said Arief.
The Tourism Ministry is currently promoting nine other tourist destinations outside Bali called the New Balis. Three of them are located in eastern Indonesia, namely Wakatobi, Morotai and Labuan Bajo.