Jakarta, Indonesia (7/12) – A total of 462 people gathered at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Jakarta and Zoom meeting platform to participate in the webinar on "STANDARDS COMPLIANCE ANALYTICS: Border Rejections in major global markets, Indonesia" held on December 7, 2023.

Mr Salil Dutt, Chief Technical Adviser, UNIDO Indonesia, and Mr Setia Diarta, Executive Secretary of the Directorate General of Agro-Industry, Ministry of Industry, opened the hybrid webinar. A valuable discussion on the Standard Compliance Analytics (SCA) report for Indonesia, presented by Associate Industrial Development Expert, UNIDO, Mr Nima Bahramalian and panelled with Trade Analyst, the Ministry of Trade and the Global Quality and Standard Programme (GQSP) Indonesia expert, Ms Novi Hutami and Mr Achmad Poernomo, respectively, drove insightful discussions. 

The webinar was a follow-up to the previous validation roundtable workshop organized by the GQSP Indonesia and the United Nations Industrial Development (UNIDO) Headquarters in November 2022.  

Technical regulations and standards are increasingly prevalent and continuously evolving in the international trade of food and nonfood (industrial products). UNIDO took note that many developing countries face challenges complying with regulations and standards' safety and quality requirements. There is a need to identify the most acute compliance challenges. Since UNIDO has consistently gathered evidence on trade related challenges and their evolution, UNIDO is able to address the information needed using the Standard Compliance Analytics (SCA) tool. 

UNIDO prepared the SCA report, which analyzes the trends and patterns of agri-food rejections in the five major International markets: Australia, China, the European Union (EU), Japan, and the United States. The report for Indonesia was validated with valuable feedback provided by attendees from the Ministry of Industry (MoI), the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade (MoT), the Food and Drugs Authority (BPOM), the National Standardization Agency (BSN), and the Food and Beverage Entrepreneurs Association (GAPMMI) and Fisheries Associations. 

The report was devel oped under the Global Quality and Standards Programme (GQSP), funded by Switzerland through its State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). (AF/2023) 

By Aniq Fadhillah, Chief Operations Officer, GQSP Indonesia