Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo recently told investors at the 2023 Hannover Messe to see Indonesia as a “land of opportunity” as the Southeast Asian country tries to win the hearts of foreign firms with its “Phinisi ship”.

Indonesia is an official partner country at the 2023 Hannover Messe, which is Europe’s largest industrial fair. Indonesia has set up a pavilion inspired by the Phinisi, and it is not without reason that the government picked the two-masted ship with seven sails as its theme.

“This Phinisi has a compass which we call the “Making Indonesia 4.0” roadmap as the navigator of Indonesia’s industrial transformation. And I invite you to this pavilion to see Indonesia as a land of opportunity and future manufacturing hub,” Jokowi said when opening the Indonesia Pavilion at the 2023 Hannover Messe on Monday.

The two masts of the traditional Indonesian ship represent the building blocks of the country's transformation: downstream industry and acceleration of the clean energy transition, according to Jokowi.

The Phinisi’s sails symbolize the seven priority sectors that the co-exhibitors are promoting, namely food, textile, automotive, electronics, chemicals, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. 

Jokowi also told the Hannover Messe attendees that a faster industrial transformation in Indonesia could be a boon for both the regional and global economies.

“With the ‘spirit of the infinite journey’, let’s sail together and accelerate industrial transformation for a better world. Because investing in Indonesia means investing in a brighter future,” Jokowi said.

The 2023 Hannover Messe will run from April 17 to April 21. Indonesia has brought 157 co-exhibitors across different industries to the exhibition.

Even before the exhibition kicked off, the government revealed over the weekend that Indonesia had already secured 18 business-to-business (B2B) deals worth Rp 29.7 trillion or almost $2 billion during this German trip. 

Speaking in a recorded video statement, Industry Minister Agus Kartasasmita said that 75 percent of the B2B deals came from the co-exhibitors. Agung said that the investment deals were partnerships that Indonesia had already been pushing for prior to the Hannover Messe opening.

“So we expect to see new deals [from the Hannover Messe] in the next few days,” Agus said.

Read More: Volkswagen, BASF to Invest in Indonesia’s EV Battery Sector

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