Studying Asian’s Economic Strength, IPB Students Went to Economics Trip in Thailand
The Students Association of Economics and Development Studies Department (HIPOTESA) of the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) held an Economics Trip 2018 event, with Thailand as the destination country. With the theme “World Trade Economy and Experience The Beauty of Thailand” the event was held in mid-October. There were 31 students from the Development Economics Study Program, and there were two accompanying lecturers namely, Dr. Tony Irawan, SE, M.App.Ec as Secretary of the Department of Economics and Dr. Muhammad Findi, SE, ME as the Economic Sciences student commission.
"Thailand was chosen as a destination country because Thailand is a country that is heading to developed countries from the economic aspects, especially the tourism economy aspect. In addition, there is an university in Thailand that have study centers on ASEAN, namely the ASEAN Studies Center at Chulalongkorn University. On there, we can see the extent of the development of the implementation of the ASEAN Community from the aspects of economy, politics, and sociology, and culture, "explained Dr. Muhammad Findi.
Besides the ASEAN Studies Center located at Chulalongkorn University, there are two other places that were used as destinations for the Economics Trip 2018 academic visit, namely the Republic of Indonesia Embassy in Bangkok, and the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNet).
The academic visit at the Republic of Indonesia Embassy in Bangkok was opened with remarks from the Head of the Republic of Indonesia Education and Culture Attaché, Prof. Dr. Mustari, M.Pd. In his remarks, Prof. Dr. Mustari expressed his appreciation for the academic activities of Indonesian students abroad who aim to add international insight in the face of the ASEAN Economic Community (MEA) and support cooperation between the Department of Economics of IPB and universities or educational institutions in Thailand.
Academic visit ends at ARTNet, an institution under The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and The Pacific (ESCAP UN). The activity began with the presentation of the United Nations and ESCAP UN, and continued with material presentation to continue towards the question and answer session on ARTNeT, work programs, and the latest research on international trade, one of which was the trade war between the United States and China.
Dr. Muhammad Findi revealed that there were things he expected from a visit to Thailand. First, students can take lessons on how Thailand can become an economic power of Asia. Second, taking lessons that the halal tourism sector can be one sector that can be applied in Indonesia and can be a source of state income. Third, the condition of Thailand which is geographically similar to Indonesia, Indonesia can implement a policy so that it can become a strong country in Asia such as Thailand, which currently has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US $ 5,400, while Indonesia is still at US $ 3,900 . Fourth, students can know the prerequisites that the government can do so that Indonesia could have powers at least in Southeast Asia, namely political stability, improvement of infrastructure, and so on.
"The output from the Economics Trip program that can be obtained for students and lecturers is that we must immediately prepare ourselves to welcome more competitions in the economic aspects, especially in the scope of ASEAN," said Dr. Findi. (Jhn)
