Indonesia In Strong Position to Cooperate with Germany

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesias abundant biodiversity has strengthened its position to cooperate with Germany in science and technology, stated Head of Entomology Laboratory of the Research Center for Biology at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Rosichon Ubaidillah.

"Indonesias natural wealth can become a strong bargaining point for establishing cooperation with Germany as what we have are useful as research materials," Ubaidillah affirmed here on Wednesday.

He noted that cooperation with Germany in the field of science and technology, which had been established since a long time, was driven by factors, such as Indonesias biodiversity.

He pointed out that biodiversity comprised all types of living things, such as insects, mammals, and plants that will help the German researchers in developing drugs from nature.

"The researchers from Germany do have the technology and funds, but we have the materials, and it is impossible to conduct research without materials," he emphasized.

Indonesia and Germany are currently in the process of establishing cooperation in eight bilateral projects based on biotechnology or technology that uses biological systems and all living things to be used by humans.

One of the eight projects developed is in the area of health, which is the research to discover bioactive compounds from plants, animals, and microbes to overcome infections both in Indonesia and Germany.

Scientific cooperation between Indonesia and Germany had begun in the 1960s, and in the last 12 years, Indonesias research landscape has expanded and evolved in terms of biodiversity as well as marine and medicinal utilization of natural materials.(WDY)