VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The first information is from Africa where it is celebrating 2020 with the Optimism of Increasing Economic Relations between Indonesia and South Africa.

The situation in South Africa is very challenging for Indonesia to be able to penetrate wider markets and bring diverse homeland productions to Africa.In 2019, some positive indications had been obtained by Indonesia, ranging from the commitment of several homeland companies to send representatives in South Africa until new investment plans for South African companies to Indonesia. Some agreements, such as the Defense Cooperation Agreement and MoU in the Fisheries Sector, have reached the final process.It is expected that 2020 will bring encouraging developments. That was the statement of the Indonesian Ambassador in Pretoria, Salman Al Farisi, opening 2020.Since 2015, trade trends between Indonesia and South Africa show fluctuating graphs. The Indonesian Ambassador was not overly concerned about the 2018 Indonesia-South Africa trade balance which showed a surplus for the South African side. Increased purchases of capital goods from South Africa show productive activities in Indonesia, mainly related to the need for intensive infrastructure development in recent years.

The second information is from Iran.Efforts to Encourage Increased Value of Trade between Indonesia and Iran.

Indonesian Ambassador to Iran, Octavino Alimudin attended the Indonesian Trade Promotion Forum held by Iranian Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) at the International Permanent Fairground, Tehran (Dec 31). On the occasion,  Ambassador Octavino delivered a presentation on the development of trade relations between the two countries; the value of trade between Indonesia and Iran was recorded higher than the value of Iran's trade with several other countries in Southeast Asia.During January-September 2019, the trade value of the two countries was recorded at US$106.4 million dollars, the surplus for Indonesia was worth US$85.6 million dollars while Iran's imports into Indonesia reached US$18.9 million dollars. The Ambassador further explained a number of prospective commodities from Iran, including LPG, dates, pistachios, medicines, medical devices, and steel. Meanwhile, prospective commodities from Indonesia include coffee, tea, textiles, garments, medicines and paper. Indonesia is a large market with 260 million people and a hub for countries in the Southeast Asian region.

The last information is from Singapore. Indonesian Foreign Minister and Singapore Foreign Minister Discuss Plans for Singapore President's Visit to Indonesia.

At the end of 2019, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, held a bilateral meeting with Singaporean Foreign Minister, Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore (Dec 31). Minister Retno Marsudi said that she discussed a number of plans to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in 2020, including the visit of Singaporean President, Halimah Yacob to Indonesia in February 2020. In addition, she also discussed the importance of continuing to reaffirm ASEAN's centrality in the region. Besides discussing bilateral issues, both Ministers discussed various ASEAN issues. They agreed that ASEAN must continue to play a central role in the region. Some of the issues discussed include Indo-Pacific cooperation, women's empowerment in the context of women, peace and security, ASEAN's role in the Rakhine State issue and the dynamics of the current regional situation.