In a release published on the website of The President of The Republic of Indonesia, President Jokowi received former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Thursday (18/4/24.)
During the meeting, the president, accompanied by the Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia and the Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (MenPAN RB) Abdullah Azwar Anas, discussed a series of strategic initiatives to advance the renewable energy sector and digital transformation in Indonesia.
In his statement after the meeting, the Minister of Investment mentioned that the meeting with Tony Blair resulted in several important agreements, including the plan for the development of solar panel facilities in the Capital of the Archipelago (IKN), which will be done together with the Arab Emirates Association.
“We are currently working out the details of this development plan,” said the Investment Minister, adding that the initiative would be facilitated by Tony Blair and was part of wider cooperation in the fields of new renewable energy and logistics.
Apart from that, the discussion also included plans for utilizing carbon storage in Indonesia, which is expected to become a new source of state income. “We talked about carbon storage, which we decided yesterday, 70 (percent) domestic, 30 (percent) overseas,” said Bahlil.
On the digital transformation side, MenPAN RB Abdullah Azwar Annas revealed that Indonesia is working hard to accelerate digital transformation in the bureaucratic sector. For this reason, his party is collaborating with the Tony Blair Institute and conducting studies in countries that have advanced in digital transformation, such as the UK and Estonia.
“When we were asked by the President to coordinate digital transformation, Tony Blair went to the Kemenpan RB office, he assured us that there was no faster way to double the country’s achievements and an efficient bureaucracy except the digitalization program,” he explained.
MenPAN RB also revealed that President Jokowi had given special directions to integrate digital services through the national portal. It is hoped that this will make it easier for the public to access various government services.
“Nowadays, there are so many applications, there are 27,000 applications and every innovation so far has created an application. “So, what is happening is not making it easier for people to get services, but making it more difficult for people,” said MenPAN RB.
Source: Website of The President of The Republic of Indonesia, BPMI Setpres
Stock image by BPMI Setpres/ Vico