![\"\"](\"http:\/\/34.101.188.30\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ChrisBarnes-200x200.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Australia-Indonesia Centre<\/p><\/div>\n
Tell us about\u00a0your role as Commissioner & Regional Director at the WA Trade Office in Indonesia.<\/strong><\/p>\n My role is to promote great two-way trade and investment between Western Australia and Indonesia. We focus on four priority sectors: education, tourism agriculture, and gas. We also have a special relationship with East Java, as Western Australia and East Java have had a sister state relationship for over 26 years.<\/p>\n No two days are the same in my job, every day is different. Indonesia and Australia, our business environments are vastly different. Culturally we are very, very different, and I think that we should recognise that and embrace that. Because in many ways we have so many complementarities. That\u2019s what I love about my job. It\u2019s why I enjoy the relationship in Indonesia. It\u2019s always interesting, endlessly fascinating. At times, it\u2019s incredibly challenging and I don\u2019t walk away from that, but it\u2019s also immensely rewarding.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your background and how did you come to serve in\u00a0your current position?<\/strong><\/p>\n My background is in banking, I worked for the Commonwealth Bank for a long time, in strategy roles both in Australia and in our international business. My connection with Indonesia stems from when I became the national president of the Australia Indonesia Business Council. I\u2019ve served in a number of government\u00a0advisory roles, with the Indonesia-Australia Leadership Dialogue, Indonesia-Australia Business Partnership\u00a0Group for IA-CEPA, and also on the Red Meat and Cattle Partnership.<\/p>\n Do you have any advice for young professionals aspiring to have a career in international\u00a0relations, particularly in relation to Indonesia?<\/strong><\/p>\n Look, I think the most important thing to do, which I say to young people and also to aspiring business\u00a0people more generally, is just to get on a plane get up to Indonesia! Look around; there is nothing like\u00a0touching, feeling, seeing and experiencing Indonesia. As much as I strongly encourage people to learn the\u00a0language and culture, you can\u2019t just do that in a classroom.<\/p>\n Would you like to make any comments about the future of the Australia-Indonesia relationship?<\/strong><\/p>\n There will always be ups and downs in the relationship but we seeking to make that better. But undeniably,\u00a0the trade and investment relationship, the economic relationship, is not as good as what it could be and\u00a0there is always work we can do in that area. The messages that I would have for Australian and Indonesian\u00a0businesspeople is that we can no longer just look at the relationship in bilateral terms, we need to see that\u00a0in this globalised world that it is a global economy and that we should be looking for opportunities where\u00a0Australian businesses partner with Indonesian businesses \u2013\u00a0not to sell things to each other, but to look at\u00a0opportunities where we can partner together and then sell into the global marketplace.<\/p>\n Originally published as “A moment with Chris Barnes, Regional Director, Indonesia, WA Trade & Investment Office \u2013 Jakarta.” Discover more about the AIBC YPs on Facebook<\/a> and LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201c\u2026get on a plane get up to Indonesia! As much as I strongly encourage people to learn the language and culture, you can\u2019t just do that in a classroom.\u201d The […]<\/p>\n