Day: January 30, 2022

State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir has likened SOEs as a large aircraft carrier which unites all parties to establish an economic balance.

“SOEs are one third of Indonesia’s economic strength. However, they cannot become an ivory tower that is attractive, but difficult to be held. Thus, currently, they become a huge aircraft carrier which accommodate all parties to build economic balance,” he said.

Speaking at the Launching of Project Management Office (PMO) Kopi Nusantara in Bandar Lampung City, Lampung Province, on Sunday, he continued that SOEs support business growth for all parties.

However, the enterprises must also ensure the welfare of Indonesian people since they are state-run companies which have their own corporate social responsibility, Thohir said.

Hence, the corporations strive to build various people-centered ecosystems, such as the existing Prosperity Program which provides an ecosystem that connects farmers with project leaders, insurance providers, financial institutions, agricultural technology providers, off-takers, and local governments.

The ministry wants the farmers to become more prosperous through the program.

“I assure that SOEs have changed since we have committed to collaborating with all parties,” the minister emphasized.

Earlier, he said that the state-run companies are striving to become a locomotive in building national economic resilience, and are not to compete with the private sector.

He has noted that it is impossible for any party to stand alone amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, all of them must work together since the pandemic does not only suppress the health sector, but also the economic sector.

Thus, he has stated that the pandemic must be a revival momentum for Indonesia. The nation has experienced a number of crises and always been able to rise afterward.

At the same occasion, Thohir also dispatched the first exports of Lampung coffee in 2022 by symbolically locked the key of the coffee container.

Meanwhile, the PMO Kopi Nusantara is a pilot project of the establishment of coffee ecosystem from the upstream to the downstream sectors.

Source: Antara News

State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir said the ministry is ready to cooperate with various stakeholders in building an ecosystem for coffee industry.

He noted that it is easier for state enterprises to establish the ecosystem since 96 percent of the commodity is produced by local farmers.

“Hence, I ask for your collaboration. We cannot work alone without the help from regional governments,” he stated while delivering his remarks at the Launching of the Project Management Office (PMO) of Kopi Nusantara in Bandar Lampung City, Lampung Province, on Sunday.

In addition, he said, the Trade Ministry, Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt, coffee associations, and private parties have also supported the ecosystem.

Quoting the fifth principles of Indonesia’s national ideology Pancasila of ‘Social justice for all of the people of Indonesia’, the minister has assessed that the coffee industry ecosystem will be successful if it can generate welfare for all players included in the industry.

It would be impossible to create an economic balance when the rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.

“Thus, we must develop the ecosystem together for the welfare of all Indonesians – not only for certain groups of people. Hence, we must maintain our national welfare according to the fifth principle of Pancasila. It is the reason we strive to the various economic ecosystem,” he remarked.

Earlier, Thohir said that state firms bear the responsibility to find solutions for the welfare of the farmers by ensuring that the rising global coffee price does not only benefit the middleman, but also brings direct advantage to farmers.

Furthermore, he also stated that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has asked all programs in ministries and institutions to bring direct impact to the improvement of people’s welfare.

Source: Antara News

India’s BrahMos Aerospace and the Philippines on Friday signed a deal worth almost $375 million for the Philippine Marines to acquire three batteries of the BrahMos cruise missile, a shot in the arm for New Delhi’s efforts to emerge as an exporter of major defence hardware, Trend reports citing Hindustan Times.

Philippine defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who signed the contract with BrahMos Aerospace chief Atul Dinkar Rane, said the supersonic missiles will “certainly beef up the firepower of the Philippine Navy”.

Lorenzana added the BrahMos missiles will provide “deterrence against any attempt to undermine our sovereignty and sovereign rights, especially in the West Philippine Sea” – the official designation for the eastern part of the South China Sea included in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and claimed by China.

Rane described the deal as the first signed by India for a major weapon system and said it “paves the way for many more to come”. He told ANI, “This deal opens the doors for all defence equipment [made] in India, not just the BrahMos but all the other systems which we are making.” He added a “lot of countries” have shown interest in the BrahMos system but “making defence deals is not an easy job”.

The Indian envoy to Manila, Shambhu Kumaran, said the deal marked a decisive step forward in India’s Indo-Pacific engagement and established the country as a trusted partner. “Today we are one step closer to elevating ties between our democracies to a strategic partnership and our shared objective of a free & peaceful Indo-Pacific,” he tweeted.

Hindustan Times first reported in December 2019 that the Philippines was set to become the first country to buy the BrahMos missile. Both sides were keen on signing the deal during a proposed visit by President Rodrigo Duterte early in 2021, but the plan fell through because of widespread disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The defence deal will not go down well with China, whose aggressive behaviour in the disputed South China Sea has taken its relations with the Philippines to a fresh low. The Philippine Marines intend to use the BrahMos as a shore-based anti-ship missile, and the South China Sea is one of the potential areas for deploying the system.

“The BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles will certainly beef up the firepower of the Philippine Navy, particularly the Philippine Marines Corps Coastal Defense Regiment,” Lorenzana said in his remarks at the signing ceremony that was conducted via video and a face-to-face meeting attended by officials of both countries.

“Its system will provide counter-attack capabilities within the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ). As the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missiles, the BrahMos missiles will provide deterrence against any attempt to undermine our sovereignty and sovereign rights, especially in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.

In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague dismissed China’s claim to much of the South China Sea in a landmark ruling, which also said Beijing’s activities within the Philippines’ EEZ, such as illegal fishing and building artificial islands, infringed on Manila’s sovereign rights. The ruling was rejected by China.

Lorenzana said the acquisition of the BrahMos missiles for the Philippine Navy was first conceptualized in 2017, and President Duterte approved its inclusion in the “Horizon 2 Priority Projects” under the military’s revised modernisation programme in 2020. He added: “Equipping our navy with this vital asset is imperative as the Philippines continues to protect the integrity of its territory and defend its national interests.”

Earlier, Lorenzana had signed the “notice of award” – or the acceptance of India’s proposal for supplying the missile – for the Philippine Navy’s shore-based anti-ship missile acquisition project. The deal includes the delivery of three batteries, training for operators and maintainers and an integrated logistics support (ILS) package.

The Philippine Army is also interested in acquiring the BrahMos and a separate deal is likely to be concluded later this year, people familiar with the matter said. Friday’s deal could also pave the way for more Southeast Asian nations to acquire the missile jointly developed by India and Russia.

Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia are among the countries that have shown an interest in the BrahMos, which has a range of 290 km and can carry a 200-kg warhead. Thailand and Vietnam have had discussions with the Indian side on the weapon system and an Indonesian Navy team visited India some years ago to explore the possibility of fitting the missile on its warships.

Source: TREND News Agency

Four provinces have been set as pilot projects of Prosperity Program (Program Makmur) ecosystem for coffee, State Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said.

“The four regions that have become the pilot projects are Lampung, North Sumatra, West Java and East Java,” Thohir said here on Sunday.

The project has covered a total area of 4,600 hectares of farmers’ coffee plantation in the four provinces.

“It does not mean that we do not care about other regions, but it will be better to start from small (area) and expand it to a larger area,” he added.

The minister said he would visit the provinces within the next few months to review the project running.

“Because this ecosystem will need an off-taker. Our export today will be sent to Egypt, but the exporter said that our production is still below Vietnam,” he stated.

Thohir has launched the first batch of the coffee export to Egypt by state-owned trading company PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI). It is part of a total three thousand tons of export to the country.

Therefore, he said, Indonesia’s coffee production would need to be improved, in terms of quality as well as quantity.

“In Vietnam (coffee plantation productivity) is five tons per hectare with 13 percent of water content while we have productivity of two tons per hectare with water content more than 13 percent. This must be improved as 96 percent of our coffee plantations are owned by farmers,” he said.

The Prosperity Program has run for six months with its first focus is on rice, corn and sugar cane. Under the program, the government has mentored farmers, and provided them with insurance to anticipate crop failure, as well as funding and seeds.

The program has succeeded in increasing the farmers’ income by 60 percent, Thohir remarked.

The Prosperity Program would need the collaboration of regional governments, he said.

Source: Antara News