Danish Aquaculture Delegation a Success

The companies visited Indonesia as part of the DANIDA Business Partnerships (DBP), with the aim of studying the Indonesian market and meeting with potential partners.

As archipelagic countries, both Indonesia and Denmark have significant fisheries activities, including aquaculture. This is a very good start to establish long term business collaboration that can deliver development impacts for Indonesia. The four Danish companies, Inter Aqua Advance, Oxymat, BioMar and Daniit, all have different products, technologies and solutions. They participated in Indonesian-Danish Aquaculture Day held on Monday 11 June 2012 in Jakarta.

A very interactive stakeholder workshop was held in the morning, giving a chance for the delegation to understand the issues in the Indonesian aquaculture industry and seek potential for collaboration. The workshop had a lively discussion triggered by interesting presentations by Mr Iman I. Barizi from Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Mr Denny Indradjaja from GPMT, Prof. Enang Harris from IPB, Mr Candhika Yusuf from WWF Indonesia and Ms Lisbeth Jespersen from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. It was clear that the sustainability issue is important for the aquaculture sector in both countries and that there are challenges in the Indonesian aquaculture industry that might benefit from the right Danish input.

The Aquaculture Day continued with a seminar attracting a 70-people audience coming from industry associations, academic institutions, NGOs and not least Indonesian companies in the Aquaculture industry. The Danish companies presented technologies ranging from re-circulation aquaculture- and oxygenation systems that increase efficiency, quality and sustainability to high performance fish feed and control systems to ensure traceability.

The companies are considering different business models with regards to developing partnerships with interested Indonesian partners. The initial discussions with Indonesian players include, among other things, a cluster approach, a demonstration project and the setting up of a joint venture in Indonesia with production and sales as regional subsidiary. For all of them, improved job creation and technical knowledge and greater focus on sustainability in the industry are of great importance to explore further.

All in all, the delegation was able to understand better the potential commercial and development impacts that provide benefits to the Indonesian society. Due to the positive outcome of this first visit, the companies are now considering a second visit to Indonesia around the end of September, where more intense discussions with potential Indonesian partners and exploration of possibilities are expected.

The delegation also helped strengthen the view of the Fisheries sector as one of the focus sectors of the DBP in Indonesia. Should you be interested in understanding more about the DBP aquaculture opportunities, please contact the DBP Coordinator at the Embassy, Ms Anjelita Malik, anjmal@um.dk.