VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mayor of Surabaya, Risma Tri Rismaharini officially serves as President of the United Cities and Local Government -UCLG Asia Pacific (Aspac) for 2018-2020 periods. Secretary General of Aspac, Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi said that Mayor Risma was elected by acclamation at the congress on the sidelines of the UCLG Aspac meeting at Dyandra Convention Hall in Surabaya, East Java on Friday (9/14/2018). According to Bernadia, all UCLG Aspac members chose Mayor Risma because there was only one candidate. The members proposed Mayor Risma to become president of UCLG-Aspac and hoped to bring about changes. Bernadia also explained that all members agreed because Risma's leadership achievement in building the city of Surabaya could be said to be successful and positive news is also heard throughout the world.

"Because many have already knows the performance of Madam Risma from the city of Surabaya which used to be dirty, hot, but it has become clean, and green. Surabaya has also received many awards; it has become a mystery. So, Madam Risma is famous not only in Surabaya, in Indonesia, but also abroad," said Bernadia

Meanwhile, Mayor Risma admitted that she never expected to be elected as President of the UCLG. Because, previously, Mayor Risma claimed that she had never campaigned or asked to become the president. (KBRN/Benny/Trans by Rhm)

Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Arcandra Tahar said in Jakarta on Friday that his side pushes to boost cooperation between Indonesian and Ukrainian business sectors. In the commemoration of the National Day of Ukraine, he said that until now, Ukraine has become the third largest trading partner of Indonesia among Eastern European countries, with trade value reaching US $800 million dollars. He also remarked that by boosting relations of both countries’ business sectors, Indonesia and Ukraine will be able to open opportunities for the development of cooperation between the two parties, including finding potential for development.

“This engagement represents both countries’ join effort to strengthen the bilateral relation in various fields. I notice the growing number of our trade which is now place the Ukraine as Indonesia’s third biggest trading partner in East Europe reaching more than 800 million USD. I believe we must further strengthen business to business contact and explore more economic potentials. Both countries are also committed to encouraging all related stakeholders to expand trade and agriculture cooperation,” said Arcandra Tahar.

Furthermore, Deputy Minister Arcandra Tahar said that during 26-year diplomatic relations, Indonesia and Ukraine have developed good cooperation based on equality, mutual respect and trust. He viewed that with a strong foundation, the two countries have collaborated in various sectors, including in politics, trade and investment, education and technology, social culture and people-to-people contact. (Ndy/Trans by Rhm)

Indonesian Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) is committed to providing support to increase exports of domestic manufacturing products. One of them is the export of aircraft manufactured by PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI). It was recently stated by Deputy for Mining, Strategic Industry and Media Department of the Ministry, Fajar Harry Sampurno when visiting the Rotary Wing Hangar, Production Area II of PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI), Bandung West Java in a series of activities to commemorate the Anniversary and Awarding Day of the company. According to Fajar, Exports of aircraft made by PT DI contributed large amounts of foreign exchange to the country. He explained that the foreign exchange generated by the export of three NC 212 aircraft made by PT DI to Vietnam was the same as the export of 200,000 tons of coal or 1000 cars.

“It’s quite large. I’ve said that the three planes which are exported to Vietnam is the same as 200,000 tons of coal or 1,000 cars. Then for Krakatau Steel it was almost 1 trillion rupiah. There was PT Barata that exported bogies for trains. So, we export a lot of products especially manufacturing products. All of their foreign exchange, 100 percent returns to Indonesia,” said Fajar Harry Sampurno..

Furthermore Fajar said that the Indonesian Government through the Ministry of SOEs will continue to support PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) to continue and improve its work domestically and abroad. So, PT DI can continue to contribute more to the economic growth, especially when Indonesia is experiencing a weakening of the rupiah. Therefore PT DI was encouraged to continue to increase export sales. In the long run, it is also hoped that PTDI will also continue to improve its production competitiveness so that it can continue to expand its wings, not only in Asian countries but also in European, American and African countries. The Indonesian government continues to encourage PT DI to continue to renew and improve the capacity and capabilities of Human Resources (HR). In addition, the design and manufacture of aircraft in the country will ultimately also encourage the value of the Domestic Content Level through the empowerment of local industries. (VOI/Rezha/AHM)

Indonesian Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Planning, Head of the National Land Agency, Sofyan Djalil, Thursday in Jakarta, expressed the commitment of the Indonesian government to continue to improve its cooperative relations with Mexico. He said this when delivering his remarks at the 208th Mexican Independence Day celebrations and at the same time commemorating the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Mexico. Minister Sofyan Djalil said that although good relations between the two countries had been running for 65 years, there was still plenty of room to be used to continue to expand cooperation between the two countries, especially in the economic sector and people to people contact.

“In the past 65 years, our bilateral relationship has been characterized by deep understanding and mutual respect. We have learned about the benefits of our people. Indonesia is committed to working together to strengthen our relations for the prosperity of our people,” said Sofyan Djalil.

Furthermore Minister Sofyan Djalil said that the Indonesian government also appreciated the good relations between Indonesia and Mexico which are active in various international forums. According to him, Indonesia and Mexico always work together in the bilateral, regional and multilateral framework. Sofyan Djalil explained that this relationship was based on the same interests shared by the two countries in the form of hospitality and adherence to family values. Until 2017, the trade value between Indonesia and Mexico reached 1.2 billion US dollars. This number increased by 21.5 percent compared to the previous year. (VOI/ANDY/AHM)