Visiting China, Luhut Discusses Collaboration On Innovation Of Medicinal Plants For Corona Vaccines

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan as the Special Envoy for the President of Indonesia made an official visit to Yunan, China. This visit is to discuss cooperation between the two countries, one of which is in the health sector.

In this meeting, Luhut also acted as the Coordinator of Indonesian Cooperation with China. His arrival was at the invitation of a member of the State Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China (PRC) Wang Yi. This visit lasted for two days, 9 and 10 October.

Coordinating Minister Luhut and Foreign Minister Wang Yi underlined the importance for the two countries to synergize more closely in the bilateral, regional and multilateral order, especially in facing the uncertain world situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Trade and investment, health, education and research, vaccines, e-commerce, artificial intelligence (artificial intelligence) and cultural and community exchanges are the main topics of discussion in this bilateral meeting," he said, in a written statement received by VOI, Sunday, 11 October.

Various issues or important matters were discussed in the bilateral meeting. During the meeting, the Chinese Government will follow up on a request from the Coordinating Minister for Luhut to increase market access for tropical fruit, fishery and seafood products, as well as bird's nest wallets and additional imports of coal from Indonesia.

Not only that, the Chinese Foreign Minister will also encourage the involvement of Chinese universities in the development of the conservation, research and innovation center of Chinese-Indonesian medicinal plants in Humbang Hasudutan, North Sumatra.

"This center can be very rich with more than 30,000 species of herbs. I hope the support from Zhejiang University, Yunnan University, and the Center for Excellence in Medicinal Plants and Related Industries," he said.

The 'Two Countries Twin Parks' cooperation which was proposed by the Fujian Provincial Government last year will also be followed up by Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Luhut hopes that this cooperation can be realized soon. From the Indonesian side, there is already a location in Bintan covering an area of 4000 ha with relatively good supporting infrastructure.

"The concept of this cooperation can also be developed into 'Two Countries Twin Parks with Multiple Zones', by preparing at least three Industrial Estates: Bintan, Batang and Aviarna Semarang," he said.

The development of the Tsinghua South East Asia Center on Kura-Kura Island, Bali is also a concern of the Chinese Government. During the meeting, the Coordinating Minister for Luhut expressed his hope that the Chinese Government could encourage professors and experts to collaborate with the Tsinghua South East Asia Center and for technology companies such as Huawei and Tencent to invest there.

On the same occasion, Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated that the Chinese side always views the China-Indonesia relationship from a strategic point of view. The two countries are expected to strengthen mutual political trust and continue to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation.

"Cooperation in various areas has achieved incredibly fast progress," said Wang Yi.

Regarding the cooperation on vaccine technology transfer, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Indonesia is a country with the strongest vaccine production capacity in Southeast Asia so that it could be an opportunity for Chinese companies.

"We will support our company to increase cooperation, especially sharing technology and experience, so that Indonesia can become a vaccine production center in the Southeast Asia region," he said.

In addition, collaborative science and technology-based poverty alleviation programs learn from China's experience. This program will be one of the two countries' long-term strategic partnerships.

Wang Yi said he would follow up on Coordinating Minister Luhut's request so that China could share experiences through this program through related Ministries / Agencies.

"In this pandemic era, we can still free all poverty according to our target schedule, and this is the first time we have eradicated pure poverty in 5,000 years of history. We are willing to share experiences with Indonesia, and will connect with related offices," he said.