Rector of Universitas Indonesia (UI) Prof. Ari Kuncoro, S.E., M.A., Ph.D., said that the G20 is a collaboration that aims to oppose supremacy and Indonesia has free and active political capital with the leverage of 5.44% economic growth to face the global crisis. This was conveyed at the National Defense Institute’s (Lemhanas) LXIV Regular Education Program (PPRA) seminar entitled “G20 Collaboration/Leadership: Connectivity and Global Supply Chain” on Tuesday (11/11).
He explained that the term Global Supply Chain was marked by the end of the Cold War between the Western and Eastern Bloc countries led by the Soviet Union in 1991. According to him, at that time the spirit of the world was the spirit of cooperation. In terms of economic theory, such cooperation allows for the division of labor between countries, thereby lowering the cost of production. However, Prof. Ari says the situation has its drawbacks.
“If the situation is good, then a country can comfortably rely on gas supply from other countries. What happened then? When they are interdependent, then quarrels occur,” he said as one of the speakers at the PPRA LXIV seminar of Lemhanas RI in Jakarta.
Furthermore, Prof. Ari said that on February 25, 2022 there was a shock from the global supply chain, where in fact the change occurred too suddenly. “From globalization to deglobalization. All punish each other. All isolate each other,” said the macroeconomic expert.
Prof. Ari added that Indonesia’s position in the current crisis is that it has capital, namely free and active politics. “Free is not neutral and actively seeks world peace. The word free is very appropriate, why? In statistics, using the Median Policy means not necessarily neutral (in the middle) but look for the median. This is very important, because Indonesia has leverage, in addition to the G20(event), there are other leverages including being rich in natural resources, having a middle class, having purchasing power, and being involved in the international supply chain,” he said.
He mentioned one interesting thing, which is the G20 provides an opportunity for countries in the world to learn to be cool-headed in overcoming food insecurity. At the end of his presentation, Prof. Ari revealed Indonesia’s advantage in the global supply chain.
First, Indonesia does not need full lock down because it has production capacity, namely exports of palm oil, iron and steel, and spare parts. This opportunity, according to Prof. Ari, can be used by Indonesia to introduce itself to the world and help reduce world inflation.
In the seminar, PPRA LXIV Lemhanas RI raised four main currents, namely the energy crisis amid climate change, global health architecture, food security/how the commitment of countries in the world to overcome food insecurity, and semiconductor chips as the main raw material for digital transformation. PPRA LXIV Lemhanas RI also proposed five recommendations related to national interests.
First, Indonesia needs to facilitate dialog between energy-related authorities and mainline operators in order to achieve reliable, affordable and sustainable modern energy. Second, there is a need to increase the value of financing for the development and sustainable use of biodiversity to support the green and blue economy.
Third, Indonesia needs to ensure global vaccines for vulnerable communities by initiating to become one of the regional hubs of vaccine producers to support global vaccine supply. Fourth, maximize the G20 forum to promote economic interests and separate political issues from economic issues. Fifth, Indonesia needs to encourage diversification of semiconductor chip trading partners.
In his welcoming speech, Lemhanas Governor Andi Widjajanto hoped that the seminar would contribute ideas to the G20 agenda. He said that this seminar was the task of PPRA LXIV as the final part of the study for seven months of strategic leadership education. According to him, the G20 this time was recorded as the busiest G20 because it was trying to make the world quickly recover from the economic recession due to the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical dynamics. He quoted President Joko Widodo’s directive at TNI’s 77th anniversary that the world is facing three crises, namely the food crisis, energy crisis, and financial crisis.
Andi conveyed the answers to the three crises that have been delivered by the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs at the UN General Assembly in New York this year. At the UN Session, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi offered three solutions, namely 1) let’s leave zero-sum, turning into positive-sum; 2) let’s leave efforts to isolate / marginalize each other between countries, let’s do engagement / engagement; and 3) Let’s leave competition / rivalry / hostility, let’s go to collaboration.
“How do we interact positively between countries, rely on active engagement, and rely on collaboration, so hopefully the theme of the PPRA LXIV Lemhanas RI seminar can offer solutions to prevent the world from entering into a deeper crisis,” Andi said.
Meanwhile, the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr. (H.C.) Ir. Airlangga Hartarto, M.B.A., M.M.T., representing the President of Indonesia delivered the keynote speech at the opening of the seminar. He said that currently the world is faced with 5 C challenges, namely Covid-19, Ukraine Conflict, Climate Change, high Comodity Price, and high Cost of living which results in inflation. Indonesia’s G20 Presidency is expected to provide solutions to global problems and ensure G20 solidity to achieve concrete results amid the global challenges currently being faced. The four main priorities of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency are strengthening the global health architecture, supporting economic transformation based on digitalization, promoting a just and affordable energy transition, and resolving food security issues.
Airlangga said that the government continues to improve various logistics issues and the national supply chain to be effective and efficient, which is achieved by, 1) prioritizing infrastructure development in national strategic projects to ensure supply chain resilience, ranging from roads, railways, ports, and airports; 2) developing special economic zones to improve connectivity between logistics stakeholders; 3) developing an integrated national logistics ecosystem system, which is a national logistics economic platform that integrates the traffic of goods and documents, starting from the arrival of goods to the end customer in a digitized manner; 4) encouraging the improvement of logistics with e-commerce and initiation of start-ups to collaborate in the logistics market place.
The seminar was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, Governor of Lemhanas RI for the 2011-2016 period Prof. Dr. Ir. Budi Susilo Soepandji, leaders of Lemhanas RI, and participants of PPRA LXIV Lemhanas RI. The hybrid seminar was attended by nearly 1,000 participants on the Zoom platform.
