TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government, through the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, in tandem with the Australian government launched the latest innovative collaboration dubbed the Australia-Indonesia Knowledge Partnership Platform or 'Koneksi'.

In this program, the Australian government committed to provide AU$50 million, or around Rp499 billion, which will be implemented for five years.

Amich Alhumami, the Deputy for Human Development, Society, and Culture at the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, said that Koneksi is a collaborative partnership between the Indonesian and Australian governments for scientific research.

This program will involve the government, industry, and research institutions of both countries to promote the downstream of research and development into appropriate technology for the benefit of society and national development.

"We hope that the scientific work will produce many findings or recommendations that are relevant to our development needs,” Amich said at the ministry’s building on Monday, November 13.

On the same occasion, the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Penny Williams welcomed the launch of the Koneksi program. According to him, it would encourage collaborative partnerships between knowledge institutions in both countries to conduct joint research.

“I am pleased to launch a new collaboration between Australia and Indonesia in the field of knowledge and innovation, which strengthens cooperation between the two countries in addressing social and economic challenges,” Williams said.

He also said that Koneksi has achieved significant results with the selection of 38 research grant recipients in the area of environment and climate change, involving more than 100 partnerships between institutions in Australia and Indonesia.

AMY HEPPY

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