Introduction of President of the Republic of Indonesia H.E. Joko Widodo in The Limited Meeting on Nation Branding, on 3 February 2017, at the President’s Office, Jakarta

Unofficial English Translation

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Peace and prosperity be upon us all.  

Some time ago, in September 2016, we have discussed the strategy for improving the image of Indonesia on the global stage. And in this Limited Meeting, I would like to hear about the development of concrete, follow-up measures for the nation branding program.

I want to remind you all that Indonesia’s brand power is still weak, be it for the trade, investment or for tourism compared with those of other countries. Based on the data I obtained, in the trade and investment sectors, Indonesia’s brand power is in a position of 6.4 percent. Indonesia lags way behind Singapore which is nearly 10 percent and Thailand which is slightly above Indonesia. This is below the world’s average, which reached 7.7 percent. Meanwhile, in tourism sector, Indonesia’s brand power stood at 5.2 percent. That is also still way below Thailand which stood at 9.4 percent, the highest in Asia, and Singapore which was 8.6 percent. We must improve this immediately.

And I notice that many countries are now doing their utmost to work on nation branding. By doing so, they want to improve their competitiveness in investment, trade, and tourism sectors. They are also vying to build a reputation in the world by means of soft power through cultural diplomacy, films, culinary diplomacy, and through sports diplomacy.

To that end, I would like to emphasize once again, first we need to understand more deeply what has become our strengths and weaknesses in brand power as well as the positive and negative perceptions about Indonesia.

Second, in building the image of Indonesia in the international world, every Ministry/Institution should not walk alone. For example, the Ministry of Trade features the tagline “remarkable Indonesia”, the Ministry of Tourism’s tagline “wonderful Indonesia”, so does the BKPM (Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board) which has its own tagline.

Third, the need for consolidation in the promotional events and exhibitions abroad so that the promotion is more massive, more integrated, and also has a concrete, real impact. So, we will be able to compete with other countries, especially in investment, trade, and tourism sectors.

Fourth, that nation branding is not limited to making a logo or finding a tagline/slogan but it also concerns the positive reputation that is actually found and felt when people come to Indonesia. This means, together we need to work more focused to materialize it and at the same time maintain the positive image of our country.

That is all the introduction that I can say. (PR Cabinet Secretariat) (MUR/YM/Naster)