Indonesia  South South Forum : 

 Strengthening State Policy for Enhancing South-South Cooperation

With the background of  strengthening  the linkage  between  government  and  academia  on South South Cooperation, University of Brawijaya organized  one day workshop on  “Indonesia  South South Forum  : Strengthening State Policy for Enhancing South-South Cooperation” on February 1,  2012, in Malang Indonesia. The Workshop was officially open by State Minister for Development Planning/Chairman of  National Development Planning Agency. The workshop was   attended   by representatives  from  Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Secretariat, and  Ministry  of Finance;  representatives  of international organizations such as JICA, the World Bank and GIZ;  practioners, private sector and national banks  and 10 universities in Indonesia.

This workshop was  the first and unprecedented workshop organized by   University of Brawijaya that specifically addresses the issues South South Cooperation.  The objectives of the Workshop is to identify the government policy  on SSC in the midst of  global dynamism ; to better understand the principles of the Indonesian Grand design on  SSC and  provide recommendations on how to synergize the involvement of stakeholders  and the role of academia in SSC.

The workshop recognized that South South Cooperation (SSC) is a strategic course of action to develop  Indonesia capacity in the international arena. The commitment of Indonesian Government’s   on SSC was clearly outlined in a draft of Indonesia SSC  grand design 2011-2025. The interesting  debate  occurred when the participants discuss  the meaning of the spirit of cooperation in the SSC and that it is not easy to build solidarity.  Further,   the participants underlined the importance of mapping  Indonesia capacity in a more comprehensive and  integrated way.  Coordination is  matter and require strong political commitment and equally important is monitoring and evaluation.  International organizations could play an  important role in connecting academia to  knowledge sources .

The workshop was clearly a manifestation of the strong commitment of the academia in getting more involve in SSC  and  filling the gap between government and academia in development issues.  This is also shows that Bangkok Call has begun to take root in the academia.

The timing of this workshop could not be more appropriate when there are  unprecedented challenges in SSC that require the involvement of  academia  and that  the academic community must rise to face  these challenges.  Academia are in better position to create knowledge sharing through integrating differing disciplines. Therefore networking between academic networks through creating knowledge hub  is more important than ever before and that cooperation  and networking  among the academia is crucial to fully leverage the potential of academia in SSC.

The workshop is one of a series of activities of Brawijaya University which to be followed by  Asia Pacific South South University Forum  schedule to be held in the mid of  2012 in Malang, Indoensia.