The 5th Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting of the ARISE+ Indonesia Trade Support Facility took place in Jakarta on 13 December 2022. The meeting brought together the key stakeholders of the project, including the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, as the coordinating institutions for the four Priority Areas/Components of the programme, other key beneficiaries such as the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, the Ministry of Investment, the Ministry of Industry and the National Standardization Agency, the European Union (EU) Delegation, and the ARISE+ Indonesia Technical Assistance Team. More than 80 persons participated in person in the meeting, the first one organised on a presential basis since the the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PSC was co-chaired by the Deputy for Economic Affairs of Bappenas, Ms Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, and the Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation, Mr Thibaut Portevin, and moderated by Ms PN Laksmi Kusumawati, the Director of Trade, Investment and International Economic Cooperation, who also serves as the Programme Director of ARISE+ Indonesia.
Ms Widyasanti, acknowledged the participation of Ms Zakiyah, Deputy for Application of Standards and Conformity Assessments, National Standardization Agency, Mr Ari Satria, Secretary of the Directorate of International Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Trade as well as Mr Nur Rakhman, Director for WTO Negotiations, Directorate of International Trade Negotiations Ministry of Trade, and extended her appreciation to the EU Delegation for the continuous support through the ARISE+ Indonesia Trade Support Facility programme.
"ARISE+ Indonesia TSF programme represents our commitment to realising a closer partnership between Indonesia and the European Union. It is an important instrument to improve bilateral trade by supporting the capacity strengthening of the Indonesian government in enhancing trade performance and competitiveness," Ms Widyasanti said.
In her remarks, Ms Widyasanti highlighted an exemplary joint collaboration and coordination among stakeholders in implementing the programme since 2019 that has already made an impact such as on macroeconomic modelling and on Indonesia’s Blue Economy agenda. She hoped that the knowledge gained from the programme activities would be beneficial to all stakeholders and could be applied in the future, as the five year programme enters its last year of implementation.
She also commended the first Technical Assistance Team (TAT) under the leadership of Mr Marc Kwai Pun and the second Technical Assistance Team under the coordination of Mr Alessandro Martinatto for their dedication and commendable work in the implementation of the EUR 15 million ARISE+ Indonesia programme.
Mr Portevin noted that the programme is important not only to the Indonesian government but it is also strategic to the cooperation between EU and Indonesia, especially the on-going bilateral trade negotiations and on investment.
"ARISE+ Indonesia is a flagship instrument for the EU to strengthen investment cooperation with Indonesia, which is a high priority for us," Mr Portevin said.
He also underscored the high relevance of the programme in the fragile international economic context, providing inputs to strategic areas such as energy, food and sustainable value chains. Mr Portevin lauded the notable achievements of the programme as confirmed by the mid-term review report which concluded that the programme was effective in responding to the pandemic by establishing of new delivery channels and ways of learning, provided good quality outputs and strongly promoted ownership by the government institutions with a demand-driven approach.
As ARISE+ Indonesia is entering the last year of implementation for both TAT I & II, Mr Portevin underscored the importance of focusing on the program activities that can have the greatest impact and ensure sustainability after the programme completion to reach as many partners as possible.
The first and second Technical Assistance Teams reported on the results achieved and presented an outline for 2023 activities for the duration of five months for TAT I and one year for TAT II.
Stakeholders from each Priority Area (Trade and Investment Policy, Trade Facilitation, Export Quality Infrastructure, Geographical Indication and Cross-cutting Issues) expressed their satisfaction with the progress of the programme and the planned activities under the next annual work plan.
