Indonesia Reinforces Role as Development Partner in Africa
Indonesia has long played a pivotal role in international development cooperation among developing countries, including African countries.
Over the past decade, Indonesia has implemented around sixty Triangular South-South Cooperation programs involving around 500 participants from the African regions.
These collaborations span various key sectors, including agriculture, fisheries and maritime affairs, health, energy, good governance, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), infrastructure development, disaster risk management, women’s empowerment, as well as trade and investment.
This initiative further enhances the country’s position on the global stage as a recognized emerging donor.
“I would like to emphasize that Indonesia is increasingly recognized internationally as a reliable development partner for developing countries, a reliable southern provider,” said Siti Nugraha Mauludiah, Director General of Information and Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sunday (08/25) in Jakarta.
Indonesia’s commitment is further demonstrated by the establishment of the International Development Cooperation Agency (Indonesia AID) in 2019 that serves as a one-stop agency for channeling development aid to partner countries.
Since the agency’s establishment, Indonesia’s development cooperation has reached 23 out of 54 countries in Africa, or approximately 42 percent of the total countries in the region, in which the areas of cooperation include food security, health, and energy.
In the food security sector, Indonesia has provided support for food procurement to address the impacts of drought in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Madagascar, as well as revitalization programs for agricultural training centers in Gambia and Tanzania.
In the health sector, Indonesia has also donated medicines and medical equipment produced by PT. Kimia Farma to Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
In 2023, Indonesia provided 1,580,000 doses of Pentavalent vaccine produced by state-owned pharmaceutical PT. Bio Farma to Nigeria, which distributed in two phases.
In the energy sector, Indonesia has offered solar energy capacity-building training to Namibia, Mozambique, Sudan, Senegal, and Tanzania.
Indonesia remains committed to enhancing development cooperation with African countries as an equal and reliable partner.
The 2nd Indonesia-Africa Forum (IAF) to be held from September 1-3, 2024, themed “The Bandung Spirit for Africa’s Agenda 2063,” will serve as a platform to strengthen concrete relations between Indonesia and Africa, with hopes of fostering mutual prosperity.
This aligns with President Joko Widodo’s statement during his visit to Tanzania in 2023 when he mentioned that Indonesia is finalizing a grand design for the next five years of development in Africa and is striving to realize concrete collaborations with the region. (PR of Ministry of Foreign Affairs/DNS) (EST/EP)
