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An Israeli delegation of technologists, investors and business executives has returned to Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, to forge ties in technology, social impact initiatives and investment.
Israel and Indonesia do not have official diplomatic relations. He gathered the trip in the year Founded in 2009 and based in Jerusalem, the Israel-Asia Center is a non-profit organization that brings together young leaders and entrepreneurs from Israel and across Asia to create a shared future.
The visit comes nearly two years after the Israel-Asia Center launched the Israel-Indonesia Futures Program, an online initiative where young Israeli and Indonesian leaders learn about each other’s cultures and economies and address shared challenges in sectors such as health care. Food security and education.
Some 100 Israeli and Indonesian participants participate in the annual program, including speakers, facilitators, mentors and program partners such as Start-Up Nation Central. This initiative includes an annual challenge where participants design solutions to an issue and put together a proposed business plan. This year’s challenge asked participants to propose a digital solution that would allow social entrepreneurs outside of Indonesia’s urban centers to access and access business development resources.
Although Israel and Indonesia do not have official relations, there is still “huge untapped potential” for cooperation between Israel and Indonesia in areas such as fintech, cyber security, artificial intelligence, mobility, agricultural technology (agritech) and water technologies. Founder and Executive Director Rebecca Zeffert.
“The online program is an opportunity for participants from both sides to dip their toe in the water,” she explained.
Rebecca Zebert, founder and executive director of the Israel-Asia Center, will speak at the 2019-20 Israel-Asia Leaders Fellowship Orientation in October 2019. (Shimon Gal/Israel-Asia Center via Flickr)
But the trip in person “took these relationships to a whole new level,” she said.
“This was the first time many of us had met in person in months – and in some cases, years – working together entirely online and the energy was simply electric! Everyone was very happy to finally meet in person,” she told The Times of Israel.
The Israeli delegation, traveling on non-Israeli passports, spent six days in Indonesia in mid-July. In Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, the delegation met with local business leaders, university presidents, entrepreneurs and investors and toured startup hubs and accelerators.
They also visited cultural and historical sites and spent time in villages outside the capital as part of a wider tour of the country, according to Zagert, with locally driven, social impact initiatives, such as providing microcredit and financial training to more than a million rural women.
Jakarta skyline view, July 2022. (Rebecca Zebert)
Aviva Steinberger, director of innovation diplomacy at Start-Up Nation Central, said in a statement that she sees “great value in connecting communities of innovators – particularly in the energy, agtech and fintech sectors.”
G20 member (and current president) Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the world’s 10th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. As the fourth largest country, it has a population of about 275 million people in 17,500 islands.
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said the country has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic but is recovering, hoping to become the world’s 7th largest economy by 2030, accelerating digitization of economic and financial environments.
In addition, a 2021 report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company predicted that Indonesia’s digital economy could be worth $146 billion in 2025 and over $300 billion in 2030.
A flower seller waits for customers at a cemetery in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 23, 2020. (AP/Achmad Ibrahim)
Zagert estimates that, despite the lack of official ties, direct and indirect trade between Israel and Indonesia is worth $500 million a year.
The countries have had close ties for years and there are signs that there are efforts at diplomatic breakthroughs.
For years, Indonesia has refused to normalize relations with Israel until an independent Palestinian state is established and has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinians.
But Israel’s diplomatic efforts to normalize relations with the Muslim-majority country could take on new meaning as part of the US-signed Abraham Accords, first signed in 2020 with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
Emanuel Shahaf, Vice Chairman of the Israel-Indonesia Chamber of Commerce (part of the Tel Aviv-based Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce) and Advisor to the Israel-Indonesia Future Program, said the delegation’s recent visit followed months of trust-building and cooperation, allowing participants to envision larger projects. .
The program, in a statement from the Israel-Asia Center, “enables the creation of connections between different cultures in a slow and controlled manner.” By the time we meet, fears and concerns have mostly been addressed and relatively smooth sailing is ahead.
Jakarta skyline at dawn, 2017. (AlfinTofler via iStock via Getty Images)
Avraham Lifshitz, a member of this year’s Israel-Indonesia Future Challenge delegation and co-winner, said he was “struck by the warmth and openness of the people” despite not being sure what to expect on their first trip to Indonesia.
As an Orthodox Jew, he wore a hat over a kippah in public, but in private, “being an obvious Jew was not a barrier to talking to Indonesians, he was curious,” said Lifshitz, who worked there. Abu Dhabi-based consultancy DANA Venture Builder, an investment platform supporting women-led startups in desert technology.
“Their questions come from a place of genuine curiosity and it gives me hope that people-to-people communication will serve as the foundation for the future of the bridge between Israel and Indonesia.”
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