Indonesia to Finalize Grand Design for Development in Africa
Dar Es Salaam, MINA – Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said, Indonesia will realize a concrete collaboration with Africa through a grand development design for the next five years which is being worked on.
Jokowi conveyed this in his press statement after a bilateral meeting with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan at Dar Es Salaam State House on Tuesday.
“Indonesia will do a walk the talk to create a concrete collaboration with Africa. Indonesia is finalizing the grand design of development for the next five years for Africa,” said the President.
President Jokowi said that one of the development plans is for the agricultural sector in Tanzania. “One of them is through the Farmer’s Agriculture revitalization plan and the Rural Training Center in Morogoro Tanzania,” the President explained.
Apart from the agricultural sector, Jokowi also emphasized Indonesia’s commitment to building health resilience in Tanzania by meeting the need for pharmaceutical products in Tanzania.
“Indonesia is committed to being part of building Tanzania’s health resilience, Indonesian pharmaceutical companies will export their first products to Tanzania as a form of contribution to meet the needs of Tanzanian pharmaceutical products,” he explained.
President Jokowi also said that through the bilateral meeting, Indonesia wanted to increase investment value in Tanzania in the energy sector.
“Indonesia wants to increase investment in Tanzania, including in managing the Mnazi Bay Gas Block by Pertamina and processing natural gas into chemicals and fertilizers,” said the President.
He considered that investment in this field is very strategic and can strengthen cooperation between developing countries.
“Investment cooperation in this field is very strategic and will strengthen cooperation between developing countries,” he said.
In addition, the President also encouraged the formation of a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Indonesia and Tanzania to optimize the trade potential of the two countries.
“Indonesia encourages the formation of a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to further optimize the potential for bilateral trade between the two countries, which in 2022 will increase by 20.7 percent,” he said.
President Jokowi also said that, during the meeting, Indonesia proposed the establishment of a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). “To ensure the protection & continuity of investments of the two countries,” he said.
On a separate occasion, the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) Retno Marsudi said that during a limited meeting (tete-a-tete), the President of Tanzania expressed his desire to learn from Indonesia, especially regarding infrastructure development and industrial downstreaming.
“Also want to learn from Indonesia for the development of the palm oil industry, as well as learn about BUMN management,” he said.
Retno also said that the two presidents also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the field of diplomatic training.
“President Jokowi invited a team from Tanzania to visit Jakarta to exchange ideas regarding the development of a diplomatic school curriculum,” he said.
In addition, Retno also said that in the meeting, the two leaders of the countries had agreed to immediately start negotiations on the formation of the PTA and BIT. “For the PTA and BIT, the two presidents agreed to start negotiations immediately,” he said.
The meeting of the two countries resulted in a number of cooperation documents in several sectors which were signed, namely the Memorandum of Understanding for Establishing a Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation, the Visa Free Agreement for Diplomatic and Service Passport Holders, the Memorandum of Understanding on Health Cooperation, the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Energy Sector, the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Energy Sector. Agreement regarding Electricity Cooperation between PLN and the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), Memorandum of Understanding between MIND ID and the Tanzanian State Mining Corporation (STAMICO), and Memorandum of Understanding regarding Activities related to the Oil and Gas Business Value Chain between Pertamina and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation ( TPDC.(T/RE1/P2)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
