Event Reports

The EuroCham Agriculture, Food & Beverages Working Group met on 7 February 2019 to provide updates on latest development of Halal Law implementation, application of 2D Barcodes for food and beverages products, labelling obligations, as well as other this year’s priority issues that would be included in the EuroCham Position Paper 2019. Another important agenda that the group discussed was the leadership for the group in 2019. On this matter, the group has decided to elect Doni Wibisono Wiroto of Frisian Flag Indonesia as the new Head of Working Group, and Laksmi Prasvita of Bayer Indonesia as the Deputy for Agriculture. All member companies attending the meeting was positive about the new leadership for the group.

To provide an opportunity for member companies to get the government’s views and directly open a constructive dialogue with policy makers, EuroCham jointly with the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) held for the 3rd year an annual event entitled ‘Indonesia Economic and Investment Outlook 2019’. The event was held on 6 February 2019 at BKPM Office and supported by Tetra Pak Indonesia to identify the government stance in a bid to boost the overall economic growth in 2019, as well as optimizing foreign investment for the country’s economy.

EuroCham Board Member Representative, Roelof Lamberts (President Director of Mercedes-Benz Distribution Indonesia) opened the meeting by highlighting the importance of commitment of business communities to explore possibilities to further enhance growth and competitiveness of national industry. In his welcoming remarks, H.E. Vincent Guerend, EU Ambassador for Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, confirmed that European businesses are looking forward to boosting their significant investments in Indonesia, with an investment ecosystem that is transparent, open and accessible

In the first session, a ministers’ dialogue was held with a theme of Building Blocks for Investment Growth and Technology Development in Indonesia. The Chairman of BKPM, H.E. Thomas Trikasih Lembong, addressed realization in 2018, as well as reform commitment to attract more investments in 2019. While, the Minister of Industry H.E. Airlangga Hartarto in the dialogue focused his presentation more on the Ministry of Industry’s strategy, policy and regulatory framework for industry growth.

The second dialogue session brought out the state of play of Indonesia and roles of technology development for the competitiveness of national industry. Participated in the panel discussion were Paolo Maggi (Managing Director of Tetra Pak), Robert Pakpahan (Director General of Taxation), Purwanto Subroto, (Deputy Director for Higher Education Collaboration), and Winfried Wicklein (Country Director of Asian Development Bank). The overall dialogue and discussion were moderated by Mr. Timothy Marbun (Television Executive Producer & News Anchor).