TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan paid a visit to Poland on June 8-10 to explore economic cooperation. According to Luhut, both countries have a lot of potential, including in strategic industries.

Luhut said that Indonesia’s strategic industries, such as state-owned shipyard PT PAL (Persero) and defense manufacturer PT Pindad (Persero), can cooperate with their Polish counterparts. "Moreover, Indonesia’s military radar technology can be developed through partnership between Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and Polish company Pit-Radwar," Luhut said last week. Aside from strategic industries, Luhut also said palm oil industry has the potential to be exported to Poland.

In Poland, Luhut met with Deputy Defense Minister Bartosz Kownacki, who made a courtesy call on the Maritime Minister at the Indonesian Embassy in Warsaw. Luhut also met Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development and Finance Mateusz Morawiecki.

At the meeting, the senior officials discussed, among others, the opening of direct flights from Indonesia to Poland by flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and its counterpart LOT Polish Airlines. Another topic in the discussion was potential cooperation in waste-to-energy development. Luhut said that Indonesia and Poland’s Rafako will join hands to generate 100 megawatts of electricity in Lombok. Morawiecki has welcomed plan and is hopeful to see more projects between the two countries.

On the sidelines of One Belt One Road summit earlier in May, President Joko Widodo met with Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo. Jokowi expected support from the latter in the plan to open direct flights between Jakarta and Warsaw. "I’m also pushing maritime cooperation with Poland," Jokowi said. Jokowi also discussed potential partnerships in various fields and asked for support in a bid to accelerate the negotiation between Indonesia and the European Union.

DIKO OKTARA