Africa-Indonesia Trade Relations: Current Status, Strategic Issues, and Future Trajectories
Center for World Trade Studies Universitas Gadjah Mada (CWTS UGM) held an international web seminar on Wednesday (12/8/21), titled "Africa-Indonesia Trade Relations: Current Status, Strategic Issues, and Future Trajectories". This webinar was organized by Indo-Africa Centre UGM in collaboration with CWTS UGM to discuss the trade relations between African countries and Indonesia based on the current development of each countries’ trade, investment, and labour capabilities, the appropriate strategies to sustain the relations, as well as the future of each countries’ trade relations based on the agreements that have been made.
The event was officially opened by Dr. Ika Dewi Ana as Vice Rector for Research and Community Service of UGM and Prof. Frednard Gideon as Pro-Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at University of Namibia. This webinar was attended by two ambassadors of Indonesia for African countries, namely Mr. H.E Ambassador Al Busyra Basnur (Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Ethiopia, Djibouti, and the African Union) and Mr. H.E. Ambassador Dr. Mohamad Hery Saripudin (Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia for Kenya, Uganda, Congo, Somalia, UNEP and UN-HABITAT in Nairobi). In addition to the Indonesian speakers, this webinar also invited two speakers to deliver the African countries’ perspective on Africa-Indonesia trade relations, namely Dr. Jacob M. Nyambe (Executive Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Management and Law, University of Namibia) and Prof. Dr. Azzedine Ghoufrane (Dean and Chair-holder of WTO Chairs Programme at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences, the Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco).
There were two discussion sessions in this webinar, starting with the topic of the current status and strategic issues of Africa-Indonesia trade relations followed by the second session about the opportunities and future trajectory of Africa-Indonesia trade relations. Moderated by Siti Daulah Khoiriati, MA, the first discussion session with Mr. H.E. Ambassador Al Busyra and Dr. Jacob M. Nyambe discussed Indonesia's priorities in Africa, especially Ethiopia, in strengthening economic diplomacy, protecting citizens, and maintaining protection along with technical issues in bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Africa, especially in Namibia.
In the second session moderated by Dr. Maharani Hapsari, Prof. Dr. Azzedine Ghoufrane and Mr. H.E. Ambassador Dr. Mohamad Hery Saripudin gave interesting insights on Africa-Indonesia trade opportunities and barriers, respectively from the perspective of Morocco/North Africa and Indonesia. In addition to focusing on various domestic economic capabilities, both agreed that institutional reform can be initiated by not only seeing the backwardness of partner countries.
The webinar was officially closed by Dr. Riza Noer Arfani as the Director of CWTS UGM and Chair-holder of the WTO Chairs Programme of CWTS UGM. Dr. Riza stated that discussions like this are very important to strengthen the development of research and curriculum on African-Indonesian trade relations. Dr. Riza also hoped that representatives of the Embassy, the Minister of Trade, and other colleagues from Morocco, Namibia, and Ethiopia could attend and exchange knowledge at the next opportunity.