Indonesia and Norway strengthen collaboration on marine spatial planning to balance the management of economic benefits and efforts to restructure sea space in the national waters.

"Norway has a number of excellent programs for sustainable marine spatial planning, such as Fish for Development, Marine Spatial Management Plans and Ocean Waste Management," Norway Foreign Ministry representative Jens Frolich Holte said in a press release from the Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry on Sunday.

Norway, he said, has a great interest in reducing marine waste.

"We believe that plastic waste can adversely affect the quality of seafood that will be consumed," Holte said.

One of Norway`s commitments to reduce marine waste is through a trust fund used to help countries reduce sea waste.

This trust fund is provided through various determinations, one of them through the World Bank, and is channeled to countries requiring assistance for waste management at sea, including Indonesia.

Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti welcomed the Norwegian assistance.

"We greatly appreciate Norway`s assistance in Indonesia`s efforts to reduce marine waste," she said.

The minister said the reduction of marine waste is one of Indonesia`s main policies related to maritime governance, in addition to the eradication of illegal fishing which has been the priority of the ministry to improve fishery governance in Indonesia.

Pudjiastuti also stressed that the use of trust fund is allocated to help communities on small islands that feel the direct impact of marine waste.

Furthermore, Minister Pudjiastuti invited Norwegian Foreign Minister to participate in the implementation of Our Ocean Conference (OOC) 2018 which is scheduled to take place on 29-30 October 2018, at Nusa Dua Convention Center, Bali, Indonesia. (ANTARA)

Vice President Jusuf Kalla left for Japan in Jakarta on Sunday evening to attend the 24th International Conference on "Asian Future" in Tokyo.

He is scheduled to meet over dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other Asian countries’ leaders on Monday evening as part of the conference agenda.

On Tuesday Kalla will deliver a keynote speech on the Future of Asia. He is also scheduled to receive courtesy calls of Vietnamese prime minister Truong Hoa Binh, New Zealand`s minister of economic development David Parker and the chairman of the Japan-Indonesia Association, Yasuo Fukuda.

The annual forum organized by Nikkei is also attended by Malaysian prime minister Mahathir bin Mohammad, Korean Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dong-Yeon, Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh and Singapore`s Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean. (ANTARA)

Indonesia will enhance synergy with Egypt at the post being elected asa non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2019-2020 period. Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt, Helmy Fauzy, revealed that as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Indonesia can be more proactive in global issues such as conflict resolution, humanitarian and terrorism. He hoped, Indonesia can play a lot to prevent the growing understanding of radicalism and extremism. Ambassador Helmy Fauzy in Cairo said on Saturday (9/6) that in the context of Indonesia-Egypt relations, the two countries agreed to put the issue on fighting against radicalism and terrorism as the main issue to be handled together. 

“So far we have a good relationship with Egypt. Egypt also supports Indonesia's nomination as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. In the future I am sure that there will be a lot of cooperations between Indonesia and Egypt in synergizing the joint efforts to fight against the radical narratives that have hijacked religion. Currently there is also a memorandum of understanding between BNPT (National Agency for Combating Terrorism) with Egypt to further cooperate in the exchange of information and other efforts, in order  to counter  terrorism,” said Helmy Fauzi..

Ambassador Helmy Fauzy further said that the success of Indonesia as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council is the world’s recognition for Indonesia's international policy as the true partner in safeguarding world peace. Indonesia is also believed can play more prominent role in promoting world peace by taking peace initiatives of long-term conflict, like Palestinian issue. (KBRN/Rian/Trs.N)

Egypt is considered to be an alternative market amid the difficulty of Indonesia's CPO to enter the European market. Counselor of Economic Function at Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, Aris Triyono, said that African markets, especially Egypt can be a diversified area of Indonesian product exports. Moreover, the Indonesian Government currently encourages exporters to see Africa as a potential market. Aris Triyono in Cairo, Egypt Saturday (9/6) admitted, Indonesia's negative CPO campaign in Europe became one of the biggest barriers to exporters nowadays. He also said that it is time for Indonesian businessmen to see Egypt as a great potential market. This is evidenced by the value of Indonesia's exports to Egypt, CPO products ranks the top with a market share of 90 percent.

“In Egypt, Indonesia's Palm Oil ranks the first rate with a market share of about 80 percent. So, the Egyptian market especially and Africa in general, could be a diversified area of Indonesian products. We can say, if it is constrained there, we can run to Africa,” Aris Triyono said.

Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics of Egypt noted that the value of Indonesian CPO exports to Egypt for 2017 was the highest with 648.6 million US dollars, above Coffee beans of 55.4 million US dollars and Artistial Filament yarn of 35.9 millionUSD. Meanwhile, for the January - February period this year, the amount of Indonesian CPO exports to Egypt reached 110.3 million US dollars. (KBRN/Rian/Trs.N)