Collaborating With The Ministry Of Foreign Affairs, Erick Thohir Brings SOEs To Go Global

Capture the screen of BUMN Minister Erick Thohir. (Mery Handayani / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding and also form a team in order to enable state-owned companies to expand overseas or in other words go global.

BUMN Minister Erick Thohir considered the importance of these two ministries to work together with each other. Not only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also with other ministries. The goal is to make the name Indonesian fragrant.

"In accordance with the direction of Mr. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) that how in the future Indonesia is diplomatically not only focused on politics but also how we continue to develop the footprint of our business world," he said, at the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of BUMN, Friday. , July 17th.

Currently, said Erick, several products made in Indonesia are well known and recognized in several countries in Southeast Asia. However, according to him, there are still many things that can be improved so that Indonesian products can be widely recognized by the international community.

Furthermore, Erick revealed that the products his party meant were vaccines produced by PT BioFarma and defense products made by PT Pindad.

"But it is not enough that BUMNs go global. One of them is that we also want to participate in improving the supply chain in Indonesia. That we know so far we are only a market, but how long ?," he explained.

Erick hopes that with the cooperation between the Ministry of BUMN and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Indonesian-made products can go global. This is because Indonesia has the advantage of natural resources and a large market.

"Indeed, in the near future, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and I want to immediately realize the things we have agreed on. God willing, the benefits are for all of us, and it is time for Indonesia to be equal, even greater than other countries," he said.

Increasingly Intensive

On the same occasion, Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi said that since early March the cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of BUMN has been very intensive. When there is a pandemic, the cooperation between the two ministries is actually getting stronger, we don't recognize sectoral egos.

"This synergy must be strengthened and continued. Once again we have to remove barriers, the bureaucratic lines must also be shortened and if necessary, eliminated all unnecessary so that our movement can be faster. All of this is of course to help Indonesia's economic recovery," he said. Retno.

Not only that, Retno said that his party was ready to cooperate with the Ministry of BUMN in the energy sector. Having previously worked together in the health sector.

"So health and energy and other cooperation. The point is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will fully support the BUMN go global program, and this is where the importance of this MoU is signed to provide a strong foundation for further cooperation and the formation of this MoU is also super fast," he said.

Furthermore, Retno said, the two ministries had also agreed to form a joint team related to the BUMN to go global plan.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and BUMN will form a team with BUMN to go global to support the development and expansion of BUMN in the global market and jointly identify opportunities for inbound and outbound investment," he said.

Retno hopes that the cooperation built by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also the Ministry of BUMN can benefit the community and for Indonesia. "Once again, thank you for the cooperation that we have carried out so far," he said.