The Indonesian Embassy in Rome continues to promote the strengthening of Indonesia-Italy cooperation on various occasions. In the field of trade and investment, bilateral trade between the two countries in 2020 will reach US$3.3 billion, while Italy's investment in Indonesia will reach US$12.7 million. This number is slightly lower than in 2019, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, in the January-August 2021 period, the trade volume of the two countries again experienced an increase of about 30 percent compared to the same period in 2020. This was stated by Danang Waskito, Coordinator of Social and Cultural Affairs at the Indonesian Embassy in Rome, representing the Indonesian Ambassador to Rome, at the promotional activities of The Indonesian Embassy in Rome. 2nd Torino (TO)-ASEAN Business Days at Palazzo Madama, Torino on 29 November 2021. He added, "The potential for strengthening Indonesia-Italy trade and investment cooperation is still very large. The Indonesian government is currently very encouraging to improve the investment climate through various policies, including establishment of INA (Indonesia Investment Authority), and co-funding and co-development in various large projects in Indonesia". He continued, "With good cooperation, investment and trade between the two countries will increase. However, the two countries also need to work together to face various existing challenges, including discrimination and negative campaigns for palm oil - one of Indonesia's mainstay commodities - in the European market." .
The 2nd TO-ASEAN Business Days were organized by the ASEAN Committee in Rome (ACR), Torino World Affairs Institute (TWAI) and the Torino Chamber of Commerce (Confindustria), and received support from the government of Piemonte Province and Torino Municipality. In this activity, each ASEAN Embassy (ASEAN Committee in Rome/ACR) explained the potential for cooperation with Italy. To attract wider participation, the activities are held on a hybrid basis. Present in person at the Palazzo Madama Turino were around 70 participants, including the Mayor of Turin Stefano Lo Russo and the ranks of the Torino City Government, TWAI, businessmen in the Piemonte region, the academic community of universities, the media, and others. Present virtually (online), including the President of the Italy-ASEAN Association (IAA) Romano Prodi, related Italian Ministries, Italian entrepreneurs and ASEAN countries, and others. Around 20 speakers (both in person and online) from Italy and ASEAN countries were also presented in the event to discuss efforts to strengthen cooperation, especially in the fields of new green businesses, industrial businesses, scenarios and strategies, and food and beverages.
Italian businessmen, Filippo Brunero and Jawad Kehzzane from BIMOTOR Power Solution shared their views on doing business in Indonesia. "After this pandemic, some of our distributors in ASEAN countries, who are still quite active in business are our distributors in Jakarta and Surabaya. We hope that the Covid-19 situation will remain under control, including in Indonesia, so that business cooperation can increase." Meanwhile, Filippo Caracciolo (Area Manager of Maserati) stated that his company faces several challenges in doing business in ASEAN, including taxation issues (especially import duty), high logistics costs and the long delivery of goods. Meanwhile, several academics expressed their views on the need to immediately conclude the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and each ASEAN member country. The 2nd TO-ASEAN Business Days activities lasted for two days, including holding a similar promotion in the city of Cuneo (about 1.5 hours from Torino) on November 30, 2021.
The TO-ASEAN Business Days were held for the first time in 2019, as a joint diplomatic and promotion effort between ASEAN member countries in the Piemonte region of Italy. In this activity, the Indonesian Embassy in Rome also held meetings with various stakeholders in Torino as well as Indonesian citizens and students (Indonesian Student Association - Torino), Indonesian Diaspora, and Indonesian business people in Torino. There are currently two Indonesian restaurants in Torino, namely Cinta Rasa and Warung Jawa. The Piemonte region, especially the city of Turin (Torino) is well-known as one of the centers of industry and manufacturing (including the automotive industry), arts and culture, tourism and contemporary design in Italy. Turin was the first capital of Italy in 1861 and the birthplace of the Italian Parliament, and has one of the oldest Universities in Europe, the Universiaà degli Studi di Torino (Unito).
