Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The Indonesian Embassy in Antananarivo, Madagascar, has played an active role in encouraging and facilitating the process of purchasing a Landing Craft Tank (LCT) from Indonesia by the Sea Transportation Authority of the Comoros government.

The 800-ton LCT transport ship previously carried an Indonesian flag under the name Anugerah Perdana 36, and after being purchased by the Union of Comoros (the Comoros), the ship's name was changed to Falk Njema.

The ship worth 21 billion rupiahs (some 1.4 million U.S. dollars) was made by a shipbuilding company in the city of Samarinda, East Kalimantan province.

After being inspected directly from the Technical team of the Government of the Comoros, Falk Njema with a length of 67 meters and a width of 12 meters is currently sailing to the Union of Comoros since April 25, 2022, and is estimated to take approximately one month to reach an island nation located in East Africa.

“I am very happy because the Indonesian Embassy in Antananarivo can contribute to increasing Indonesia's trade cooperation with the Union of Comoros. The purchase of Falk Njema is a proof of the improvement in economic relations between the two countries," Head of the Indonesian Representative Office in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and the Comoros, Benny Yan Pieter Siahaan, said in a statement received here on Thursday.

The Falk Njema ship will later be used as a means of transportation for inter-island sea shipping in the Union of Comoros.

The Union of Comoros has recently experienced a crisis in meeting basic needs due to the scarcity of inter-island transportation.

With the completion of the vessel purchase process, the Government of the Comoros expressed its satisfaction, and is determined to explore the purchase of other vessels from Indonesia, especially for cargo and barge variants.

The purchase of Indonesian-made ships by the Union of Comoros is of course also one of the results of the economic diplomacy efforts that have always been carried out intensely and continuously by the Indonesian Embassy in Antananarivo.

In the future, the Indonesian Embassy in Antananarivo will continue to strive to play an active role in strengthening the economic diplomacy in order to contribute to economic recovery efforts that have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the last three years.

Reporting by Indonesia Window