October 19-22, 2023 Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization (Chief Digital Transformation Officer) Anton Demokhin paid a working visit to the Republic of Indonesia (Jakarta).
During his visit, the Ukrainian representative had numerous bilateral meetings with Indonesian partners from both public and private sectors. Key officials and organizations to meet with included the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Mr. Pahala Nugraha Mansury, Head of the Indonesian Quarantine Agency Mr. Sahat Manaor Panggabean, Head of the “National Single Window” Agency of the Ministry of Finance Mr. Muhammad Agus Rofiudin, Deputy Head of the National Border Management Agency, two executive Vice-persons of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Indonesia (KADIN), as well as representatives of the Ministry of Industry.
The main topics under discussion during these meetings included cooperation and support of Ukraine in its confronting Russian aggression, exchange of experience, and launching of bilateral cyber dialogues with interested parties. An important topic was the digitization of the state structures and business environment of Indonesia in the context of Ukrainian experience in digital transformations of the public sector, exploiting of "Diya" and "Trembita" digital ecosystems, as well as the "Diya.Engine" platform for creating and supporting operation of electronic registers.
The leader of Ukraine's cyber diplomacy informed about steps taken by the Government of Ukraine to increase the resilience in the cyber sphere to malicious external interventions and tackling corruption. Anton Demokhin called upon the Indonesian Government for strategic coordination of international efforts for a secure future by deepening existing and introducing new cyber dialogues.
Due to the successful adoption of digitalization by Ukrainian enterprises, the meetings with Indonesian private businesses placed significant emphasis on this aspect. The importance of transitioning from traditional business methods to utilizing digital technologies was discussed, among the other issues. The experiences and accomplishments in the IT field and identified potential areas for mutually beneficial cooperation were shared. An agreement was made to schedule further working meetings at the diplomatic level to enhance bilateral cooperation.
Taking into account the historical cooperation between Ukraine and Indonesia in the grain export sector prior to the Russian aggression, Anton Demokhin had a meeting with the management of "Bogasari" company affiliated with one of Indonesia's leading food manufacturing conglomerates "Indofood." Indonesian representatives were briefed on the commencement of the "Grain from Ukraine" humanitarian food program by the President of Ukraine in 2022, which aims at supplying grains to the world's most impoverished populations. Additionally, it was conveyed that Ukraine has resumed and is actively increasing its grain exports in 2023. Consequently, the Indonesian partners are encouraged to resume their state-level procurement of Ukrainian grain.
Anton Demokhin also conducted briefing for local media journalists and granted interviews to leading Indonesian mass-media outlets including TVRI, CNN Indonesia, and Medcom.