VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo affirmed that his side is preparing a microtargeting strategy to overcome various problems of poverty and stunting whose prevalence and figures remain high in the province.

"We follow up on President Joko Widodo's directive by creating a program to tackle poverty and stunting with the microtargeting (strategy)," Pranowo stated here on Wednesday.

He explained that the new strategy in dealing with poverty and stunting will involve village and sub-districts heads in all regions across Central Java.

"That way, (information on the targeted population) can be in detail, such as who is poor, where are them, how many are there, and what kind of intervention (is needed). When the (intervention) is ready, the handling must be done collaboratively," he remarked.

At the “2023 National Coordination Meeting of Regional Heads and the Regional Leadership Communication Forum” in Sentul, West Java, on Tuesday (January 17), the president has emphasized the need for regions to reduce stunting cases and poverty rates.

So far, Pranowo highlighted that the programs to reduce the poor population and stunted children prevalence had been running well in Central Java, but the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an increase in poverty in some regions in the province.

"We are on standby, (Insya Allah) God willing, starting this week, we will do a 'roadshow' (visit) to several regions and assign village heads to record data of (targeted population) in detail," he explained.

In addition, he urged sub-district heads to coordinate with the related parties and each district head will be responsible in their respective areas.

The Central Java governor also highlighted the president's message that investment must be facilitated, including the use of the regional budget and the state budget to provide stimulus for economic growth, help reduce unemployment, and alleviate poverty.

"Hopefully, after the briefing, we will all be more solid and ready to face 2023 with more certainty, more measured with a clearer target," he stated. (antaranews)

Indonesia will not import fossil fuels from 2045 as it will have developed the potential of palm oil as an alternative fuel by then, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, has informed.

"We are currently researching (the potential of) palm oil because we believe that we will be able to produce around 100 million tons of palm oil by 2045,” he said in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday local time.

He made the statement during a presentation entitled “Indonesia Zero Pathway: Opportunity & Challenges” at the Indonesian Pavilion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023.

At least 30 percent of palm oil production will be used for the food industry, while the remaining 70 percent will be used to manufacture ethanol, the coordinating minister said.

"Thus, we will not need to import fossil fuel at that time (by 2045)," he added.

He said that the development of alternative fuels is one of the five green economy pillars whose implementation is being intensified by Indonesia.

The other four pillars are the decarbonization of the electricity sector, the utilization of low-carbon transportation, the development of green industry, and the strengthening of carbon sink.

According to Pandjaitan, the transition from fossil energy to renewable energy would encourage the realization of net-zero emissions by 2060.

"That is the reason that the (utilization of the derivative products of) palm oil will have big impacts in the upcoming years," he said.

The Indonesian government has put a moratorium on oil palm plantation permits, thus the productivity of the plantations can be increased from 2.3 tons per hectare to 8–10 tons per hectare in the next 10–15 years, he observed.

In addition, the moratorium policy aims to reduce deforestation due to the expansion of oil palm plantations.

Furthermore, as the world’s largest crude palm oil (CPO) producer in the world, Indonesia has also implemented a mandatory program to push the use of CPO-based biodiesel since 2008, the coordinating minister said.

The mandatory program aims to cut imports of fossil fuels, increase the use of renewable energy, as well as minimize emissions from the use of fossil fuels. (Antaranews)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow had yet to see any serious proposals for peace in Ukraine and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's suggestions were absurd.

Lavrov said Moscow stood ready to discuss the conflict with Western countries and to respond to any serious proposals, but that any talks needed to address Russia's wider security concerns.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Lavrov called again for NATO to remove its "military infrastructure" from Ukraine and other countries close to Russia's borders.

"There can be no talk of negotiations with Zelenskiy," Lavrov said, describing the Ukrainian leader's 10-point plan unveiled last November as consisting of "completely absurd initiatives".

"As for the prospects for negotiations between Russia and the West on the Ukrainian issue, we will be ready to respond to any serious proposals. (But) we don't see any serious proposals yet. We will be ready to consider them and decide," Lavrov said.

Lavrov said statements by Western governments that they would not discuss anything about Ukraine without Kyiv's involvement were "all nonsense", because the West was actually taking the decisions. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia's finance minister said on Wednesday the kingdom is changing the way it provides assistance to allies, shifting from previously giving direct grants and deposits unconditionally.

"We used to give direct grants and deposits without strings attached and we are changing that," Mohammed al-Jadaan said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, adding Saudi Arabia was encouraging countries in the region to make reforms.

"We need to see reforms. We are taxing our people, we are expecting also others to do the same, to do their efforts. We want to help but we want you also to do your part." (Reuters)