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Discourse: Ministry tries new things but keeps to proven traditions in 2020
Even before the coronavirus crisis, 2020 had already proven to be both challenging and interesting for Indonesian foreign policy. The Jakarta Post’s Dian Septiari, Apriza Pinandita and Tama Salim recently sat down with Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi to talk about how the country’s foreign policy priorities have shifted.
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Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi speaks during an interview with The Jakarta Post on Friday, March 13, 2020. ( JP/ I Gede Dharma JS )
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em>Even before the coronavirus crisis, 2020 had already proven to be both challenging and interesting for Indonesian foreign policy. The Jakarta Post’s Dian Septiari, Apriza Pinandita and Tama Salim recently sat down with Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi to talk about how the country’s foreign policy priorities have shifted. The following are excerpts from the interview:
Question: Last year President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo told diplomats to put 70 percent of their resources into economic diplomacy. How have you implemented this objective?
Answer: I think Indonesia is not the only one doing it. Almost all countries do it, especially given the current economic situation, which is not easy.
The ministry’s Policy Analysis and Development Agency has started looking into things that have never been done before, such as doing research about market potential based on the Harmonized System (HS) in countries where we think our products have high export potential and competitive advantages. [The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System is an internationally standardized system of names and numbers to classify traded products.]
By mapping out the potential, we know what needs to be done, but of course there is no fixed point. There will be adjustments based on developments in the field, and it is up to our representatives to decide [on the changes], but at least the central government has given clearer guidance on what to do. This is the first time we have done this; diplomats usually do more of the talking in general terms, without going into the details. Now everything needs to be detailed.
On investments, I coordinate a lot with [Investment Coordinating Board chief] Bahlil Lahadalia. When we promote new investment projects and our representatives tell me they run into problems, I let him know because BKPM was specifically assigned by the President to de-bottleneck such processes.
