Indonesia trains African officials to expand trade and investment

Photo caption: Indonesia's Head of the Trade Human Resources Development Agency of Ministry of Trade, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono (second left) at the opening of South-South and Triangular Cooperation program in Jakarta on Monday (September 28, 2026). (ANTARA/A Muzdaffar Fauzan)

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government is providing trade policy training to six African countries as part of efforts to strengthen economic cooperation and expand trade and investment opportunities between Indonesia and African markets.

Head of the Trade Human Resources Development Agency (BPSDMP) of the Ministry of Trade, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, said the program is part of the South-South and Triangular Cooperation program and is being attended by 16 participants from Rwanda, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia.

Opening the training in Jakarta on Monday, Djatmiko said the 10-day program would cover topics including trade facilitation, export development, trade negotiations, trade promotion, small and medium enterprise empowerment, and regional cooperation.

Participants will also visit several government agencies, including the Ministry of Investment and Downstream Development and the ASEAN Secretariat, to learn about Indonesian policies and experiences in regional cooperation, he added.

"We hope this activity will further strengthen Indonesia's relationship with the African region," he remarked.

Djatmiko views Africa as a region with promising potential in terms of population, trade, investment, and resources. Therefore, Indonesia must pursue strategic and comprehensive cooperation with countries across the region.

Furthermore, Indonesia is open to expanding capacity-building cooperation with African countries, including in vocational education, through the Metrology and Instrumentation Academy under the Ministry of Trade.

"We offer our friends from Africa the opportunity to send their students here; we are open to exploring that," he added.

In addition to strengthening human resource capacity, Indonesia continues to expand trade cooperation with Africa through discussions on various bilateral trade agreements.

He stated that Indonesia has implemented the Indonesia-Mozambique Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and completed PTA negotiations with Tunisia.

To strengthen the promotion of national products, the Ministry of Trade operates two Indonesian Trade Promotion Centers (ITPCs), one in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the other in Lagos, Nigeria, along with a Trade Attaché office in Egypt.

Djatmiko said the presence of these representatives is expected to further support the promotion of potential Indonesian products in the African market, including processed foods, footwear, textiles and textile products, paper, and automotive products.

"We hope this will provide support for us to promote potential Indonesian products in Africa," he said.