VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta (voinews): The launch of the 2023 tourism calendar would serve as a promotion for Maluku Province's tourism industry, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno stated.

"This activity will be a place for high quality promotion on potential and attraction in tourism as well as the creative economy," Minister Uno said in his virtual remarks at the launch of the 2023 Event Calendar, which was accessed from Maluku on Saturday.

He commended the Maluku Government and stakeholders for hosting the event.

"These are certainly positive agendas that potentially increase tourist visits to Maluku," the minister noted.

Uno further said that this tourism calendar could also boost the development of creative economy, which would hopefully trigger an increase in tourist visits, the economy, and welfare of the people.

"This will have a multiplier effect for artists and the tourism industry which will lead to an improvement in the economy and create (the most of) job opportunities in Maluku," he elaborated.

Meanwhile, Head of the Maluku Tourism Office Affandy Hasanusi stated that the regional government would strive an honest, clean, and responsive Maluku.

"This is also part of our efforts to pursue an increase in conduciveness, investment, culture, and tourism," Hasanusi noted.

Moreover, Maluku would develop its tourism sector, and make it more competitive by considering its great values —in terms of historical, cultural, and local wisdom. At the end, the tourism sector could contribute to regional development and sustainable prosperity, he noted.

He admitted that the event calendar, in which tourism events are arranged and scheduled, aims to attract visitors so they are encouraged to plan a holiday trip to Maluku.

"We also appreciate the Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahudin Uno, as well as the heads of all districts in Maluku who have committed to advancing tourism," he said.

Governor of Maluku Murad Ismail launched the 2023 Event Calendar event, which was marked by a digital monitor displayed at the World Peace Gong Monument in Ambon. (antaranews)

Jakarta (voinews): Deputy Chairperson of People's Consultative Assembly Lestari Moerdijat compelled Indonesians to seek for more information on early prevention of cancer in a bid to suppress the rate of the disease, and concurrently promote health quality.

"When discovered early on, cancer can be prevented and cured. Hence, efforts to inform people more and early on cancer detection are important measures to take," Moerdijat said in a written statement received here on Sunday.

She made the statement in commemoration of World Cancer Day on February 4. This year's theme for World Cancer Day was Close the Care Gap, which aimed to appeal everyone to put in efforts to address the inequity in cancer treatments.

The global theme was chosen following the experience which cancer patients had gone through throughout COVID-19 pandemic that affected the world for several years, she affirmed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) projected that deaths caused by cancer would still increase, even the number exceeding 13.1 million in 2030.

The COVID-19 pandemic had restricted cancer patients' access to treatment, thus hindering the progress and compromising their lives.

Hence, she appealed to everyone to make the World Cancer Day a moment to instill awareness, so young people would be able to adopt a healthy lifestyle in their daily lives.

She emphasized that public knowledge and understanding about cancer should consistently be promoted so that people would grow more aware.

To this end, efforts to prevent cancer by adopting a healthy lifestyle, early detection and vaccination such as on in cervical cancer prevention, can be implemented on greater scale.

She also urged the people at large to take cancer prevention efforts as their concern.

Therefore, stakeholders and the general public must pursue collaboration to enable everyone to take part in addressing the cancer issues in Indonesia, Moerdijat said. (antaranews)

Jakarta (voinews): The Government of Indonesia expressed readiness to hold the Opening of the 10th World Water Forum on 15-16 February 2023 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Minister of Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono stated.

"The kick-off meeting is targeted to attract 1,000 participants. Each participant can contribute to finding solutions to challenges in the water sector, be it on regional, national, and global scale," Hadimuljono said in a statement in Jakarta, Sunday.

As of February 1, 2023, there have been 672 participants who have registered, consisting of 503 domestic (national) participants and 169 international participants.

The government is targeting the presence of heads of state, ministers, 10,000 delegations, and 30,000 participants (including participants and visitors to exhibitions about water and MSMEs) from 172 countries, consisting of elements of government, parliament, private sector, academics, practitioners, associations, and the public, both national and international.

"It is hoped that the number of participants who registered will continue to increase. If the kick-off meeting alone attracted 1,000 participants, we hope that the main event of the 10th World Water Forum will be attended by more participants," the Minister said.

The kick-off meeting will be filled with various discussions regarding the challenges in the water sector, Hadimuljono said.

The opening of the 10th World Water Forum will also be the first meeting for stakeholders in the management of water resources.

The World Water Forum itself is the largest cross-border forum in the world that focuses on discussing water issues and seeking global solutions as answers to these issues.

The 10th World Water Forum will be held on May 18-24, 2024 with the theme "Water for Shared Prosperity". It is hoped that World Water Forum will become a place for various stakeholders from various countries to share experiences and innovations in responding to various challenges in global water management.

Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that, based on the experience of implementing the G20, the key to the success of holding the 10th World Water Forum in 2024 in Bali is the mutual cooperation and cohesiveness of all agencies/institutions, both in the central government and regional governments. (antaranews)

Jakarta (voinews): Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno and the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) delegations visited the Travel Expo at the Jogjakarta Expo Center (JEC) on Saturday evening.

"I invited Madame Garcia (Secretary of the Philippines' Department of Tourism Christina Garcia Fasco) to see firsthand the enthusiasm and potential for the revival of our tourism," Uno said in a press release received here Sunday.

Uno said that the enthusiasm of sellers and buyers was quite high when the best tourism and creative economy products were showcased.

As a result, the destinations and centers of creative economy in the country which are starting to improve can be exposed to show the revival of Indonesia's tourism that has an impact on society.

"It has an impact on business opportunities and employment, especially for MSMEs," he said.

The ATF 2023 Exhibition, which is part of this year's ATF Meeting, is divided into two main events. They are "Travel Exchange" (Travex) and Indonesian Tourism, MSMEs Creative Economy, and Culinary Festivals.

Travex which takes place on 3-5 February 2023 is a "business to business" (B2B) forum for tourism business actors from ASEAN member countries.

Among the participants were those from the ASEAN NTOs, ASEAN Tourism Industries, Travel and Tourism Hospitality Industries, hotels & accommodation industries, TA/TO, as well as MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions) actors.

Meanwhile, the "business to customer" (B2C) program was filled with the promotion of Indonesian Tourism, MSMEs of the creative economy sector, and Culinary Festivals. 

 More than 160 MSMEs, local governments, and the tourism industry from various regions in the country joined the activity that took place on 2-5 February 2023.

Uno said the B2B exhibition (Travex) was attended by 10 ASEAN member countries plus Russia, India, China, Japan, and South Korea involving 207 companies and 115 international sellers and exhibitors.

Uno said the transaction target that had been set for these two activities could be achieved.

"For B2B, the total transactions are still being calculated, but for B2C the target is Rp5 billion and since the exhibition was.opened (2/2/2023), the total transaction value has been reported to reach over Rp3 billion," he said.

In addition, Uno, who is also the Head of the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency, hoped that the exhibition could encourage innovation in the country.

"Hopefully, we can achieve the target that shows ASEAN as a 'wonderful destination'," he said.

Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Ni Wayan Giri Adnyani, Deputy for Tourism Products and Event Organizers for the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Vinsensius Jemadu were seen attending the event. (antaranews)