Indonesia vows to boost cooperation with African nations

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JAKARTA (ANTARA) – Ahead of the second Indonesia-Africa Forum (IAF), the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the government’s commitment to strengthen cooperation with African countries, especially in the fields of health and energy. “Indonesia is committed to strengthening development cooperation with African countries as an equal and reliable partner,” said Siti Nugraha Mauludiah, Director of the Information and Public Diplomacy Department of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement issued by his office on Sunday.

She pointed out that Indonesia plays an active role in international development cooperation with developing countries, including African countries.

She said that in the past decade, Indonesia has implemented about 60 South-South and Triangular Cooperation (KSST) projects involving about 500 participants from the African region.

The cooperation covers major areas such as agriculture, fisheries and maritime affairs, health, energy, good governance, micro, small and medium enterprises, infrastructure development, disaster risk management, women’s empowerment, and trade and investment.

Maurudia said the moves further strengthened Indonesia’s international standing as a newly accredited donor country.

“Currently, Indonesia is gaining more and more international recognition as a reliable development partner for developing countries and a reliable supplier to the South,” she said.

She added that Indonesia’s commitment was achieved through the establishment of the Indonesia AID Fund for International Development Cooperation (LDKPI) in 2019, which serves as a one-stop agency for providing development assistance to partner countries.

Maurudia stressed that since Indonesia’s founding, development cooperation has covered 23 of the 54 countries in Africa, accounting for about 42% of the region, with a focus on food security, health and energy.

In the area of food security, Indonesia supported the procurement of food to mitigate the effects of drought in Kenya, Ethiopia and Madagascar, and provided revitalization programs for several agricultural training centers in Gambia and Tanzania.

In the health sector, Indonesia donated medicines and medical devices produced by the state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Kimia Farma to Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In 2023, Indonesia distributed 1,580,000 doses of pentavalent vaccines produced by the state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma to Nigeria in two phases.

In the energy sector, Indonesia provides training to Namibia, Mozambique, Sudan, Senegal and Tanzania to build solar power generation capacity. The second Indonesia-Africa Forum (IAF) will be held from September 1 to 3, 2024, with the theme “Bandung Spirit to Support Africa’s 2063 Agenda”.

The forum aims to strengthen concrete relations between Indonesia and Africa and promote shared prosperity.

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