Russia plans special maritime policy for Indonesia

The Russian government will offer various forms of modern technology to support Indonesia’s maritime sector, which has been made a priority by new government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

“The Russian government has made a special policy on Indonesia’s maritime sector,” Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Alexei Likhachev said on Wednesday in Jakarta, adding that his country has been ready to strengthen a bilateral partnership with Indonesia over the sector.

Likhachev said that as part of the policy, Russia was ready to offer various types of ships, multi-level intelligence systems, as well as establish a ship service center and a production center for spare parts.

In a bid to follow up on the plans, the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) would meet with the Indonesian government, he said.

The USC, which was established by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the largest shipbuilding firm in Russia.

The open joint stock company unites shipbuilding, repair and maintenance subsidiaries in western, eastern and northern Russia, to streamline civilian shipbuilding using military facilities.

“The president of USC [Alexey Rakhmanov] will visit Jakarta next week to discuss the potential of such a partnership,” Likhachev said.

He said that the Russian government would also offer modern devices that have been equipped with high-tech radar systems, to help the Indonesian government monitor its more than 17,000 islands.

Russia will also offer Indonesia multi-level intelligence systems for monitoring security in cities, mobile situation-analysis centers and LED equipment.

The USC will display its products at the Indo Defense 2014 show in Jakarta in early November. More than 20 large holding companies and enterprises from Russia will take part in the exhibition.

The Indonesian Air Force contains a squadron with 16 Russian-produced Sukhoi Su-27/30 heavy jet fighters.

The Indonesian Navy’s Marine Corps, meanwhile, operates 54 BMP-3F amphibious infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and one BREM-L recovery vehicle that are also Russian-made.

Likhachev said that he hoped that the Cabinet recently appointed by Jokowi could reduce bureaucratic red tape so as to increase the number of foreign investors in Indonesia.

“We hope that we can increase the value of our trade with Indonesia. We expect that our bilateral trade will reach $5 billion in 2015, up from US$3 billion in 2013,” he said.

He said that Russian Trade and Industry Minister Denis Manturov had met with Jokowi in Jakarta discussing the future of the partnership between the two nations.

Russia has become Indonesia’s 27th largest foreign investor, mostly in hotel and restaurant businesses, according to Foreign Ministry.

Likhachev said that Putin would meet alone with Jokowi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in Beijing from Nov. 5 to 11.

“They [Jokowi and Putin] will meet again to talk about bilateral cooperation in March next year in Tatarstan, Russia,” he said.
Source: Jakarta Post