BALI - Head of the Indonesian Quarantine Agency (Barantin) Abdul Kadir Karding reiterated his commitment to speeding up quarantine services for business actors without reducing surveillance of biological security. The commitment was conveyed during a dialogue with exporters at the Bali Exporter Sarasehan in Badung, Friday, July 17.
According to Karding, the Indonesian Quarantine Agency is carrying out various improvements so that the certification process and quarantine services are faster, more effective, and efficient. These efforts are carried out through the digitization of services, simplification of procedures, and strengthening coordination with related ministries and agencies.
"Quarantine should not be a bottleneck. In fact, we must be an accelerator that accelerates the export and import process, without reducing the function of protecting Indonesia's biological resources," said Karding.
He said that business actors have so far faced a number of obstacles, such as repeated inspections, bureaucratic procedures that take time, to the length of the service process which can affect the quality of export commodities, especially fishery products, horticulture, and other commodities that are easily damaged.
Therefore, Barantin continues to strengthen the integration of services with various agencies, including in port and airport areas, so that the inspection process can be carried out more coordinated and not repeated.
"We want the service to be simpler. If it can be done digitally, there is no need for a lot of face-to-face contact. The goal is for the process to be faster, logistics costs to decrease, and the competitiveness of Indonesian products to increase," he said.
However, Karding emphasized that the acceleration of services would not reduce the standard of quarantine supervision. According to him, the main function of quarantine as a biosecurity guard remains a priority to prevent the entry and spread of pests and diseases that can threaten the national agriculture, fisheries, and livestock sectors.
He cited the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) that hit Indonesia in 2022. The outbreak provided an important lesson that the weakness of the prevention system can cause very large economic losses.
"Therefore, we must find a balance. The export process is accelerated, but supervision of biological safety must not be reduced," he said.
On this occasion, Karding also reminded that the challenges of global trade are now increasingly complex. Export destination countries not only require products that are free from pests and diseases, but also demand a traceability system that is able to show the origin of products, production processes, to the treatment given before being exported.
According to him, improving the quality and traceability of products is a joint effort between the government and business actors so that Indonesian products are able to meet international standards and are increasingly accepted in the global market.
As a form of support for exporters, Barantin is preparing various assistance programs, ranging from the preparation of standard operating procedures, strengthening the traceability system, to improving regulations that are more adaptive to the needs of international trade.
"We want to build an ecosystem of fast, transparent, and ethical services. On the other hand, we will also not tolerate the practice of illegal levies, document manipulation, or actions that harm business actors and damage trust in quarantine services," said Karding.
He hopes that the synergy between the government and business actors can continue to be strengthened so that the quarantine system not only maintains Indonesia's biological security, but also becomes an instrument that increases the competitiveness of national exports, including from the province of Bali which has great potential in fishery commodities, fruits, and agricultural products.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
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