​Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), Erick Thohir, conveyed the good news about the owner of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), the investment agency of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which is interested in investing in Indonesia. The news was obtained during a recent visit by BUMN officials to the Middle East. QIA has been impressed by the potential and development of business in Indonesia, especially in the tourism and energy sectors.

"Thank God, the meeting resulted in several important points, one of which is QIA's (Qatar Investment Authority) interest in investing in tourism, energy, and others," said Erick Thohir, Monday (08/11/21).

During his visit, Erick Thohir held a meeting with Sheikh Faishal Bin Thani Al Thani, Chief of Asia-Pacific & Africa Investments at QIA.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Erick Thohir (@erickthohir)

According to Erick, Qatar is very impressed with the development that Indonesia has continued to carry out over the past few years under President Joko Widodo. With the potential of natural resources and human resources owned by Indonesia, investors also believe in investing. This belief is proof that this nation has all the prerequisites to continue to grow both in terms of quality and quantity of the economy. 

"This shows how enormous Indonesia's potential is in the eyes of the world. Of course, business cooperation is built on the principle of mutual trust and respect," said Thohir.

In addition to the owner of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Erick Thohir also took the time to meet the Minister of Defense of Qatar, Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah. This meeting continued the initial meeting that the Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto knitted. The arrangement of the two ministers resulted in a joint commitment to advancing the Indonesian defense industry.

A visit to Qatar is one of Erick Thohir's safari agendas to several countries. Previously, he also accompanied the president to attend the G20 forum in Rome, Italy, then went to Glasgow to attend COP26. After that, the visit continued to the United Arab Emirates to attend a bilateral meeting between Indonesia and the Kingdom of the UAE.

Meet Bill Gates

Previously, Thohir also met with Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and a well-known philanthropist. The meeting discussed the transfer of mRNA vaccine technology (messenger RNA) between the Pharmaceutical BUMN Holding PT Bio Farma (Persero) and the Gates Foundation.

Holding BUMN Pharmaceuticals has subsidiaries including PT Kimia Farma Tbk (KAEF), PT Indofarma Tbk (INAF), and PT Phapros Tbk (PEHA).

Erick revealed that the existence of this collaboration opportunity is proof of the recognition of Bio Farma's capacity, which plays a significant role in the production and distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine.

"In addition to discussing the issue of climate change, we also discussed the Gates Foundation's interest in collaborating with Bio Farma in transferring mRNA vaccine development technology," Erick said in his Instagram account @erickthohir, Wednesday (3/11/2021).

According to him, in the future, Indonesia will be able to encourage the development of biotechnology products in the country to realize Indonesia's health independence.

This meeting was held together with the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto and Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani on the sidelines of the COP26 World Leaders Summit at the Scottish Event Campus, Glasgow, Scotland, November 1.

Currently, Bio Farma only has one type of technology to produce vaccines. The company targets to master more techniques for making vaccines.

Since the beginning of the year, Bio Farma has produced and distributed the Covid-19 vaccine with Sinovac.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Erick Thohir (@erickthohir)

Last September, Bio Farma also received 'souvenirs' from visits by Indonesian officials. At that time, Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi and Deputy Minister I of BUMN Pahala Nugraha Mansury, and Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono visited Los Angeles and Houston, USA, on September 16-17, 2021.

One of the results was a meeting with Dynavax, the manufacturer of one of the best adjuvants in the world. An adjuvant is a substance that serves to strengthen the recombinant protein vaccine seed.

Foreign Minister Retno said that, as is known, one of the Indonesian state-owned enterprises in the pharmaceutical sector, namely Bio Farma, is collaborating on vaccine development with Baylor College of Medicine using a recombinant protein platform.

"The collaboration between BioFarma and Dynavax is to build vaccine independence," said Retno.

Indonesia reportedly needs an additional 30 million vaccines to start a vaccination program for children aged 6-11 years. One that is being pursued is the production of Sinovac.