Universitas Gadjah Mada’s (UGM) Centre for World Trade Studies and ASEAN Nagoya Club (ANC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to boost inclusive trade management between Indonesia and Japan on Thursday (24/10).
The signing was done by Rector of UGM, Prof. Ir. Panut Mulyono, M.Eng., D.Eng., President of ANC, Takashi Ori, and President of ANC JAPAN Co., Ltd., Hisaya Matsuhisa.
“It’s an honour for us to receive the ANC delegation that will establish a cooperation with UGM,” said the Rector of UGM.
According to the Rector, the cooperation between UGM and Japan had run well, particularly with various Japanese universities. He hoped the new collaboration would give contributions to both UGM and ANC, and also the economy in Indonesia.
“I hope the Centre would involve partners in regions to develop small and medium industry and generate products for the world trade market,” he said.
The Centre and ANC plan to conduct activities to boost inclusive trade management between both countries. The events include Japanese language training for professionals, trade excursion development, and collaborative research in business cluster management. Meanwhile, the Centre and ANC JAPAN Co.,Ltd., will collaborate in building career and recruitment information. The collaboration will be implemented in the Japan Business Culture Briefing Program on 24 October 2019.
President of the ASEAN Nagoya Club appreciated the cooperation with UGM which is the first to be done with an Indonesian university. He said the ANC had previously established cooperation with several regency governments in Indonesia.
“We have established plenty of cooperation with regional governments in Indonesia, but this is the first time with universities, one of the best universities in Indonesia,” said Takashi.
Chair of the Centre, Dr. Riza Noer Arfani, said the cooperation with ANC was in line with the Trade Labs programme promoted by the Centre. “We want to be a knowledge hub that can connect academics, corporates, governments, MSMEs, and civil society organisations,” he said.
Riza added the cooperation with ANC was strategic as it would be a stepping stone for MSMEs to go international.
“This cooperation has to be utilised by MSMEs to explore Japanese market or to collaborate with Japanese MSMEs,” he said.
Furthermore, Director of ANC, Hisaya Matsuhisa, and Counsellor of ANC, Dr. Indra Kesuma Nasution, explained the business culture in Japan. The event followed with a briefing for UGM students on apprenticeship programme recruitment in Japanese companies that affiliate with ANC.