Switzer­land-In­done­sia: Close co­op­er­a­tion in the pri­vate sec­tor to be fur­ther in­ten­si­fied

In May 2022, economiesu­isse to­gether with the In­done­sian busi­ness um­brella or­gan­i­sa­tion KADIN es­tab­lished the Swiss-In­done­sian Trade and Sus­tain­abil­ity Coun­cil ("Coun­cil"). This has cre­ated an im­por­tant plat­form in the bi­lat­eral re­la­tion­ship that en­ables cross-in­dus­try di­a­logue on sus­tain­abil­ity pro­jects in the pri­vate sec­tor. On Mon­day, 22 April 2024, the mem­ber or­gan­i­sa­tions of the Coun­cil met for the third an­nual meet­ing at economiesu­isse in Zurich.

New in­vest­ment pro­tec­tion agree­ment will strengthen trade and in­vest­ment dy­nam­ics

In their wel­com­ing ad­dresses, Christoph Mäder, Chair­man of economiesu­isse, and Ar­s­jad Rasjid P.M., Chair­man of KADIN, em­pha­sised their firm be­lief that the pri­vate sec­tor has an im­por­tant role to play in deep­en­ing trade re­la­tions and as a dri­ver of sus­tain­abil­ity. Christoph Mäder was also very pleased that the bi­lat­eral agree­ment on the pro­mo­tion and pro­tec­tion of in­vest­ments be­tween Switzer­land and In­done­sia may soon enter into force. It is ex­pected that the new in­vest­ment pro­tec­tion agree­ment, in com­bi­na­tion with the Com­pre­hen­sive Eco­nomic Part­ner­ship Agree­ment that came into force in 2021, will sig­nif­i­cantly strengthen the trade and in­vest­ment dy­nam­ics of Swiss com­pa­nies in In­done­sia and vice versa.

Sus­tain­abil­ity pro­jects in the pri­vate sec­tor are dri­ven for­ward

Sub­se­quently, the par­tic­i­pants gave an up­date on the cur­rent sta­tus of work in four focus areas of sus­tain­abil­ity: tex­tiles, ed­u­ca­tion and train­ing, nat­ural in­gre­di­ents in food pro­duc­tion and green in­fra­struc­ture. In his input, Ste­fan Brup­bacher, Di­rec­tor of Swiss­mem, em­pha­sised the rel­e­vance of sus­tain­able tex­tile ma­chin­ery for the In­done­sian tex­tile in­dus­try. More­over, Swiss Tex­tiles is also ac­tively in­volved in local sus­tain­abil­ity pro­jects. Omar Kassab, Head of Pri­vate Sec­tor En­gage­ment at Swiss­con­tact, high­lighted the im­por­tance of ac­cess to skills, knowl­edge, mar­kets and tech­nolo­gies to make the In­done­sian pri­vate sec­tor even more com­pet­i­tive (e.g. with the Skills for Com­pet­i­tive­ness S4C pro­gramme). Patrick Walser, Se­nior In­fra­struc­ture Con­sul­tant at Switzer­land Global En­ter­prise S-GE, men­tioned the im­por­tant role of Swiss com­pa­nies in the treat­ment of drink­ing water, in the ex­pan­sion of trans­port in­fra­struc­ture in Jakarta, but also in the con­struc­tion of the new cap­i­tal Nu­san­tara. An­nette Apri­lana, Vice Chair­man of KADIN Switzer­land and re­spon­si­ble for sus­tain­abil­ity pro­jects, gave an overview of pro­jects in the vo­ca­tional train­ing sec­tor, such as the or­gan­i­sa­tion of in­tern­ships at local Swiss com­pa­nies. More­over, she ad­dressed In­done­sia's sus­tain­abil­ity pri­or­i­ties ac­cord­ing to the "2045 Golden In­done­sia Roadmap".

Fair and sus­tain­able sup­ply chains through tech­no­log­i­cal in­no­va­tion

Last but not least, Man­fred Borer, CEO of Koltiva, pre­sented a Swiss suc­cess story in the area of trace­abil­ity of sup­ply chains in agri­cul­ture. Sus­tain­able sup­ply chains are play­ing an in­creas­ingly im­por­tant role in today's world. Peo­ple want to know ex­actly where the prod­ucts they buy come from and how they were pro­duced. In a glob­alised world in which most goods pass through sev­eral pro­duc­tion stages or in­ter­me­di­aries, trace­abil­ity is a chal­lenge that should not be un­der­es­ti­mated. And this is where Koltiva comes in: the Swiss SME is ac­tive in the agri­cul­tural tech­nol­ogy sec­tor and shows how dig­i­tal so­lu­tions can be used to pro­mote sus­tain­able sup­ply chains. Koltiva's ap­pli­ca­tions are now being used suc­cess­fully in around 60 coun­tries around the world.

Con­tact per­sons:

Luc Schnur­ren­berger, Deputy Head of In­ter­na­tional Re­la­tions, economiesu­isse,
email: luc.​schnur­ren­berger@​eco​nomi​esui​sse.​ch

Fran­cis Wanandi, Chair­man Bi­lat­eral Re­la­tions Switzer­land, KADIN,
email: fran­cis.​wanandi@​imsport.​id

Ste­fan Brup­bacher, Di­rec­tor, Swiss­mem,
email: s.​brupbacher@​swissmem.​ch

Björn von der Crone, Head of Eco­nomic Pol­icy, Swiss Tex­tiles,
email: bjo­ern.​vondercrone@​swi​sste​xtil​es.​ch

Omar Kassab, Head of Pri­vate Sec­tor En­gage­ment, Swiss­con­tact,
email: omar.​kassab@​swi​ssco​ntac​t.​org

Patrick Walser, Se­nior In­fra­struc­ture Con­sul­tant, Switzer­land Global En­ter­prise S-GE,
email: PWalser@​s-​ge.​com

Man­fred Borer, CEO, Koltiva,
email: man­fred.​borer@​koltiva.​com