Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) lauded the target of state-owned defense industry holding company DEFEND ID to immediately rank among the top 50 defense companies in the world.
The target was conveyed by Bobby Rasyidin, the president director of state-run electronic enterprise PT Len Industri, as the parent company of the holding.
"Hence, certainly, our products must be developed optimally," Jokowi stated at the Indo Defence 2022 Expo & Forum here on Wednesday.
The head of state also encouraged Indonesia to continue striving for the development of the defense industry on account of indications that the defense budgets of several North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Middle East, and East Asian countries had increased significantly.
“In addition, there are new military technologies that we also need to follow," he noted.
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Hence, the president said that the government opens myriad opportunities for private companies to partake actively in development of the domestic defense industry, either by manufacturing their own products or cooperating with foreign corporations.
"I think it will be very good (for Indonesia’s defense industry) development, and most importantly, we can adopt as many new technologies as possible," he affirmed.
Furthermore, Jokowi said he would name three new domestically-made defense equipment that were showcased at the expo in the following week.
"I will give the names (for the equipment) next week, not today," he stated.
The defense equipment are an electric motorcycle and a tactical vehicle made by state-owned weapons manufacturer PT Pindad as well as an electric motorcycle produced by PT Len Industri.
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The two companies are part of DEFEND ID, which was launched by President Jokowi on April 20, 2022, along with state-run aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia, state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL Indonesia, and state-run explosive manufacturer PT Dahana.
The Indo Defence 2022 Expo & Forum is being held on November 2-5, 2022, at three locations: JIExpo Kemayoran, Central Jakarta; Pondok Dayung Naval Base, North Jakarta; as well as south apron of Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base, East Jakarta.
The Defense Ministry noted that the exhibition is attended by 905 enterprises from 59 countries, including 150 domestic companies.
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