REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen met in Helsinki on Thursday (13/6/2024.) The meeting was to discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation, particularly in the field of green energy and smart cities.
“Finland has strong capacity in the field of renewable energy,” Foreign Minister Retno said in a press statement he delivered virtually from Helsinki.
He explained that the private sector of the two countries, Medco Group and Valmet Technologies, had an agreement to work together to build a biomass-to-energy processing plant in Merauke, Papua, with a capacity of approximately 3.5 megawatts. If successfully implemented, the project is expected to reduce diesel use by up to 27.5 million litres in five years.
“We hope that this cooperation can be realized soon. And we also agreed to continue exploring other collaborations in the field of green energy,” Retno said.
While regarding smart cities cooperation, he mentioned that there is already a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Archipelago Capital Authority (OIKN) and the Finnish Ministry of Economy. Retno hopes that the MoU can open the door for further cooperation in the development of IKN, especially Finland's investment in IKN.
Finland is one of Indonesia's main trading partners in the Nordic region. The value of the two countries' trade continues to rise and has already surpassed pre-pandemic figures. According to Kemlu RI data, the value of the two countries' trade last year reached 713 million US dollars (about Rp 11.6 trillion) or up 22 percent compared to trade in 2019.
In the first quarter of 2024, Indonesia-Finland trade rose 40 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023. According to Retno, he and the Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs agreed to continue exploring existing potentials in order to promote increased trade.
“We also agreed to encourage greater investment from Finland in Indonesia, including in the green energy sector and smart cities. There is also hope that the Indonesia-EU CEPA negotiations can be completed soon. These are the same expectations and views both from Finland and from Indonesia,” he said.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also discussed educational cooperation, welcoming the organization of the “1st Indonesia-Finland Joint Working Group on Higher Education and Teacher Capacity Development” in September last year.
“We agreed to continue to encourage educational cooperation including through teacher and student exchanges, joint research, and scholarships,” Retno said.
He further said that this year, when RI-Finland relations entered the age of 70, the two countries agreed to continue to increase bilateral cooperation.
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