President Joko Widodo and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto witnessed the signing of the contract, which is divided into four agreements.
The first is a defense equipment contract for the production of 6 thousand units of electric motorcycles by state-owned enterprise defense holding Defend ID and 3 thousand jeeps by PT Pindad Persero.
The second involves the procurement of medical equipment and the construction of 27 units of Army, Navy, and Air Force hospitals spread across Indonesia, which will involve 6 state-owned enterprises and 10 private companies.
The third is a Local Content and Offset agreement, which represents the value of the benefits obtained by the domestic industry from 20 contracts for the procurement of defense equipment from overseas during 2019–2022 with a total Local Content and Offset value of Rp 67.5 trillion.
The fourth is a cooperation agreement for the development of propellant raw materials by two SOEs as part of the ministry’s commitment to developing domestic industries, especially upstream industries, in order to reduce dependence on imports of raw materials.
The entire cooperation is a form of the ministry's commitment to pursuing an advanced, strong, independent, and competitive local defense industry, in accordance with President Widodo’s directive to ensure that every defense expenditure serves as an investment in defense for national economic recovery and growth.
"The President expects that defense technology will develop rapidly and we must immediately follow suit and must fight hard," Minister Subianto said.
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Meanwhile, the president director of PT Napindo Media Ashatama, Arya Seta, said that on the first day of the event, as many as 19 companies inked cooperation with the domestic defense industry and the foreign defense industry.
As many as 905 companies from 59 countries are participating in the defense expo.
"So, it can be seen that the transition period from pandemic to endemic has been utilized very well indeed by the industry for them to continue business activities in Indo Defense. This does not diminish the interest of companies from overseas," Seta noted.
During the expo, foreign delegates were also urged to conduct activities in the "G to G" format.
He said that the expo’s activities are being hosted at different locations, namely JIExpo Kemayoran, Pondok Dayung (North Jakarta) and Halim Perdanakusuma to accommodate industries from three spaces: land, air, and sea.
"We want to display static aircraft in real terms. At JIExpo Kemayoran it is not possible, so we expect for the public who wants to see static aircraft or static naval ships in Indonesia, they can go to the rowing lodge and can go to Halim Perdanakusuma right away. The activity will take place on November 3 to 4, 2022," he added.
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Translator: Syaiful Hakim, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Suharto
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