The Association of Indonesian Regency Governments (Apkasi) officially held the 2026 Regional Business Forum (Forbisda) in Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatra, on Thursday (2/7/2026). The event, which coincided with the celebration of Apkasi's 26th anniversary, became a strategic platform for local governments to sign various memorandums of understanding (MoUs), both inter-regional and with private sector players.
The main focus of the forum is to accelerate the downstreaming of key commodities to strengthen food security and control regional inflation. Through this synergy, Apkasi aims to shorten long distribution channels so that inter-district trade flows become more efficient and carry higher economic value for local communities.
General Chair of Apkasi, Bursah Zarnubi, emphasized that the organization's role is to act as a catalyst for economic growth from the periphery. He highlighted the importance of transitioning from extractive industries to the processing of biological commodities near the source of raw materials, such as optimizing coffee bean production, which reaches hundreds of thousands of tons per year in his region.
In an interactive session bringing together the supply side (local governments) and demand side (industry players), several regional leaders presented their leading potentials. These ranged from rice and shrimp from Banyuasin, corn from Gorontalo, to shallot commodities from Brebes. The data presentations are expected to attract large business entities such as Mitra Adiperkasa, Alfamart, and BSI to invest through business-to-business (B2B) schemes.
Support for this initiative also came from the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and the Indonesian Ministry of Trade. The presence of hundreds of regents from all corners of the country in this forum demonstrates a collective commitment to prove that a resilient national economy relies heavily on self-reliance and integrated inter-district collaboration.
