VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The environmental organization World Wide Fund (WWF) is encouraging sustainable palm oil trade between Indonesia and China given its relatively large volume and impact on the sustainability of agricultural production and the environment.



China is one of the largest markets for Indonesian palm oil exports, making up 17.7 percent of its total crude palm oil (CPO) exports, WWF Indonesia executive director Aditya Bayunanda pointed out at the “China-Indonesia Palm Oil Dialogue” here on Thursday.



Hence, the WWF is encouraging exports of palm oil and its derivatives from Indonesia to China, specifically palm oil products made using sustainable principles.



"Regarding trade and palm oil, we must remember the ways we can protect our environment," said Bayunanda.

"This is also appropriate in the context of how palm oil from Indonesia can comply with and also ensure these interests," he added.



He then outlined several issues surrounding Indonesian palm oil production, including the clearing of forest land for plantations, the issue of workers being paid substandard wages, and other issues.



The Ministry of Agriculture is implementing the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification policy for business actors or farmers who are applying sustainable principles.




Therefore, the WWF said it hopes that palm oil products and their derivatives exported to China can get ISPO certification, or even RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), which is commonly used internationally.



The WWF is ready to provide education on and promote sustainable products, especially palm oil, Bayunanda said.



"We are ready to promote sustainable trade and imports of sustainable palm oil from Indonesia to China," he added.




Meanwhile, a representative from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CFNA), Chen Ying, said that the Chinese people are not used to sustainable palm oil products and do not understand what they mean.



Sustainable CPO products and their derivatives have only become a concern of big industries.



However, Ying said that the Chinese people have begun to adopt a green lifestyle, that is, consume sustainable products.



Therefore, the potential for marketing sustainable palm oil products is still huge and will need to be tapped by educating the public to make them aware of the importance of protecting the environment and consuming sustainable products, he added.



"China is pushing for sustainable products and green consumption recently. People are willing to pay more for organic food or a green lifestyle. Sustainable palm oil has market potential," said Ying. (Antaranews)

Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah discussed labor cooperation with Australian Minister for Skills and Training, Brendan O’Connor, on the sidelines of the 17th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on Wednesday.

During the bilateral meeting in Singapore, Fauziyah broached several areas of cooperation in the field of employment within the framework of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), whose progress has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and change in leadership in Australia.

The cooperation includes a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Workplace-Based Training and an MoU on a Skills Development Exchange Pilot Project.

"We would like to have further discussions with the Australian government, in particular, to facilitate the availability of information regarding the eligible sponsor list so that we can follow up on and implement the MoU on Workplace-Based Training," the Indonesian minister said in a statement released by the Manpower Ministry on Thursday.

According to Fauziyah, the eligible sponsor list is very important for Indonesia to ease the supervision and protection of Indonesian apprentices in Australia.

She said she hopes that Australia, under the leadership of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, will provide support in the form of access to information on the Workplace-Based Training (WBT) program so that the monitoring, supervision, and protection of Indonesian apprentices can be guaranteed.

"We also hope to strengthen cooperation with the Australian government in the field of skills development and training in various sectors to increase the competitiveness and competence of the Indonesian workforce before they enter the world of work," she added.

She further informed that Indonesia and Australia had discussed a placement program for Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) in the agricultural sector, and the discussion on an MoU on Australian Agricultural Visa (AAV) and the agreement’s drafting had entered the final stages.

However, due to changes in leadership in Australia, the visa program for the agricultural sector was terminated before it could be signed with the Indonesian government.

"We hope that the Australian government can reopen this program to be able to follow up on the MoU on AAV or open other opportunities that can open up job opportunities for Indonesian citizens, both in the agricultural, fisheries, forestry, and other sectors," the minister said. (Antaranews)

China announced on Wednesday the most sweeping changes to its tough anti-COVID regime since the pandemic began three years ago, loosening rules that curbed the spread of the virus but had hobbled the world's second largest economy and sparked protests.

The relaxation of rules, which include allowing infected people with mild or no symptoms to quarantine at home and dropping testing for people travelling within the country, are the strongest sign yet that Beijing is preparing its people to live with the disease.

Many of the changes announced by the National Health Commission (NHC) reflected steps already taken in various cities and regions in recent days, following protests against COVID controls that were the biggest demonstration of public discontent since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.

Even still, citizens cheered the prospect of a shift that could see China slowly emerging back into a world three years after the virus erupted in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.

Wednesday's announcement quickly soared to the top most viewed topic on China's Weibo platform, with many people hoping for a return to normality after a series of weeks-long lockdowns that have brought mental suffering to tens of millions.

"It's time for our lives to return to normal, and for China to return to the world," wrote one Weibo user.

Some investors also welcomed the shift that could reinvigorate China's sagging economy and currency and bolster global growth.

"This change of policy is a big step forward," said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. "I expect China will fully reopen its border no later than mid 2023."

Foreign businesses in China also hope the changes could mark a shift to broader opening up and an easing of travel restrictions.

"We need the business environment here to return to a level of predictability whereby companies can return to normal operations," Colm Rafferty, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said in a statement.

But NHC spokesperson Mi Feng told a news conference that any changes to measures regarding travel would be "gradual".

PROTESTS AND FEAR

The policy change came after President Xi Jinping, who regards China's relentless fight against COVID as one of his main achievements, chaired a meeting of the Communist Party's Politburo on Tuesday.

Some analysts seized on a report on the meeting by official news agency Xinhua that lacked any mention of the "dynamic zero-COVID" policy, though it was unclear whether this was a signal of a fundamental change in stance.

Major cities across China, including Beijing and Shanghai, were gripped by protests last month, which started to peter out amid a heavy police presence and various restrictions being lifted in different parts of the country.

Officials have not linked any of the changes, made on Wednesday or earlier, to the protests.

But they have been softening their tone on the health risks of the virus - bringing China closer to what other countries have been saying for more than a year as they dropped restrictions, and shifted towards living with the virus.

The looser approach has set off a rush for cough and fever medicines as some residents, particularly the unvaccinated elderly, feel more vulnerable to a virus that has largely been kept in check by Beijing's strict policy.

China's current tally of 5,235 COVID-related deaths is a tiny fraction of its population of 1.4 billion, and extremely low by global standards.

"Please buy rationally, buy on demand, and do not blindly stock up," the Beijing Municipal Food and Drug Administration was quoted as saying in the state-owned Beijing Evening News.

In Beijing's upmarket Chaoyang district, home to most foreign embassies as well entertainment venues and corporate headquarters, shops were fast running out of some those drugs, residents said.

The surge in demand drove up share prices in medicine manufacturers including cough syrup producer Guizhou Bailing (002424.SZ), and Xinhua Pharmaceutical (000756.SZ), which makes 40% of all Ibuprofen sold in China.

China's yuan has seen a recent resurgence against the dollar, buoyed by the prospects that government would relax its "zero-COVID" policy.

But the currency remains set for its worst year since China unified official and market exchange rates in 1994, as its economy has been battered by COVID curbs.

In further evidence of that, China's exports and imports shrank at a much steeper-than-expected pace in November, data on Wednesday showed. (Reuters)

Pakistan's Supreme Court set up a panel of five judges on Tuesday to supervise an investigation into the death of a prominent journalist who was shot and killed in Kenya, the court said.

Journalist Arshad Sharif, 50, was killed on Oct. 23 while travelling in a vehicle on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Kenyan police said it was a case of mistaken identity.

Sharif had earlier fled from Pakistan citing threats to his life after the government registered a treason case against him.

The Supreme Court said it had taken up the case voluntarily and was seeking responses from Pakistan's foreign and interior ministries, the Federal Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau.

"The journalist community and the public at large are deeply distressed and concerned about the death of the senior journalist and are seeking the court's scrutiny of the matter," the court said in a statement.

The panel ordered the government to register a fresh case in Pakistan in relation to the killing, and submit by Wednesday the findings of an investigation team that had visited Kenya to gather facts and evidence last month, a court official said.

The registration of a new case means that a new criminal investigation will begin in Pakistan, which could lend weight to Pakistani efforts to learn more about the Kenyan investigation, Pakistani officials say.

The fresh case will also help Pakistani police to investigate any suspects in Pakistan if they think they had anything to do with the killing.

Sharif worked for many years as a prime-time television news show host for ARY News in Pakistan.

Kenyan police said Sharif was shot dead when police hunting car thieves opened fire on the vehicle he was travelling in as it drove through their roadblock late at night without stopping.

Police had formed a roadblock using small stones but the car in which Sharif was a passenger failed to stop, even after officers opened fire, police said in a report. Nine bullets hit the car and one hit Sharif in the head.

`TARGET KILLING`

Despite the Kenyan police findings, Pakistan's interior minister said there was evidence to suggest it was a targeted killing based on initial findings of a team of Pakistani investigators who visited Kenya last month.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said Sharif's body had bruises and torture marks.

The treason case filed against Sharif stemmed from reporting he did that led to an accusation he had spread a call from an official in a previous government, led by former cricket star Imran Khan, for members of the armed forces to mutiny.

Both Sharif and the official in the previous government denied inciting mutiny.

Former prime minister Khan said Sharif had been murdered for his journalistic work. He and his successor PM Shehbaz Sharif, not related to the journalist Sharif, had called for a judicial investigation.

PM Sharif welcomed the court's move. "The government will extend full support to the court," he said in a statement. (Reuters)