The delegation of Kadin, led by Chairman Arsjad Rasjid and B20 Chairwoman Shinta W. Kamdani, held a series of visits to Europe from May 22, 2022, to June 4, 2022.
The tour is part of B20 Indonesia, G20's official dialogue forum for the global business community, which began at the World Economic Forum (WEF) event in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday (May 23).
"We used the momentum offered by this WEF 2022 annual meeting to promote the G20 presidency and B20 Indonesia and also outlined three priority areas of the Indonesian government for the G20 in 2022," Rasjid stated in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday.
He drew attention to the three priority issues of global health architecture, digital transformation, and energy transition. Rasjid said his side also discussed urgent economic issues due to geopolitical uncertainties following the impact of the pandemic.
Rasjid emphasized that the important mission conducted by the Indonesian delegation during its visit to Europe is to promote B20 Indonesia and invite investors from Europe to attend the B20 Summit in November 2022 in Bali.
Furthermore, he noted that Kadin is also working to further increase bilateral trade and investment cooperation, explore new economic partnerships with European businesses and identify key partners for the Indonesia Trading House.
In addition, Kadin held bilateral meetings with strategic partners of Swiss companies and business associations, including Economiesuisse, Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse, Roche Group, and the Swiss-Asian Chamber of Commerce.
Supporting Kadin, during this WEF forum, B20 Indonesia also hosted the "B20 Indonesia Business and Investment Forum" at the Indonesia Pavilion that had invited global CEOs involved in the B20 Summit in Bali.
Kamdani noted that after Switzerland, the visit would continue to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, some of the countries known to be highly developed economically and the most promising partners among other EU countries.
Kadin Indonesia also held an honorary meeting with the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission as well as Business Europe in Brussels, Belgium.
Moreover, to optimize the potential of trade and economic partnerships between the two parties, the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is currently being drafted.
"Although trade continues to increase, there are still many opportunities for cooperation between European and Indonesian companies that can be explored to bring economic benefits to both parties," Kamdani explained.
According to Kamdani, today is the era of diversifying businesses and creating a more resilient supply chain.
"Kadin Indonesia is ready to bridge EU members to explore investment opportunities in Indonesia," she added.
Local business participation
The Swiss-ASEAN Chamber of Commerce delegation said a fish company located in Lake Toba, North Sumatra, intends to expand its business by investing in the sector.
"They want to invest because they successfully export fish to various countries and saw an opportunity to expand their facilities and asked what the potential was like," Kadin's Head of the Swiss Bilateral Committee, Francis Wanandi, stated after a meeting with the Swiss-ASEAN Chamber of Commerce at the Indonesia Pavilion, Davos, Switzerland, May 24 local time.
Along with the plan of building Lake Toba as an eco-tourism area, Wanandi said his side planned to combine the fish industry with tourism. On the other hand, a Swiss company also inquired about the potential and profits that would be obtained.
The meeting, which was part of the B20 roadshow, also discussed vocational cooperation in encouraging Indonesian workers to be sent to Switzerland for a span of two years to be trained professionally.
"We are looking at the map of various sectoral areas where we can hire Indonesian employees to Switzerland," Wanandi remarked.
Moreover, Kadin urged the Swiss-ASEAN Chamber of Commerce to find other companies that are looking to invest in Indonesia in fisheries, shrimp, and lobsters.
At the meeting, Kadin Chairman Arsjad Rasjid said that Indonesia's condition was "less fortunate" because it sends and sells lobster seeds to Vietnam, thereby enabling the country to receive a higher value.
"Switzerland is known as a country that does not have the sea but has the technology to develop fisheries and in processing. Hence, that is what we are talking about," he explained.
Signing cooperation
Moreover, he pointed out that one of the aspects that concern Swiss entrepreneurs is legal certainty, so they also discussed security and investment protection.
"That is why there is a signature for investment protection between BKPM (the Investment Ministry and Investment Coordinating Board) and SECO, so that Swiss companies have security in investment in Indonesia, and of course, Kadin must be able to facilitate it," he stated.
On Tuesday, May 24, Kadin accelerated trade and investment cooperation between Indonesia and Switzerland by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Chairman Rasjid and President of Economiesuisse Christoph Mader and President of Innosuisse Andre Kudelski in Davos, Switzerland.
"The point is how Indonesia and Switzerland can build more close cooperation, especially to viable projects," Rasjid stated.
He said the cooperation included discussing efforts to build human capital through several ways, such as vocational training and business matching between MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) in Indonesia and Switzerland.
In addition to the action plan, Kadin, Economiesuisse, and Innosuisse built a joint council between Indonesia and Switzerland that will discuss trade and investment.
"This is a sustainable council, so trade and investment must have sustainability," Rasjid added.
For the Indonesian delegation, this visit series is an important foundation for B20 Indonesia in expanding the participation of global business leaders to bolster the future transformation of the world economy.
Both Rasjid and Kamdani stated that strong ties with the EU will help B20 Indonesia in providing cross-border networks, especially on knowledge-sharing opportunities to create legacy programs to accelerate global economic recovery.
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Translator: Kenzu Tandiah
Editor: Sri Haryati
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