VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Russia on Saturday suspended participation in a U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its fleet in Crimea, dealing a blow to attempts to ease the global food crisis.

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine attacked the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean peninsular with 16 drones in the early hours of Saturday, and that British navy "specialists" had helped coordinate the "terrorist" attack.

Russia said it had repelled the attack, with just minor damage to a minesweeper, but that the ships targeted were involved in ensuring the grain corridor out of Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

"The Russian side suspends participation in the implementation of agreements on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports," the defence ministry said in a statement.

Russia said the step, which will cut Ukrainian grain exports from its crucial Black Sea ports, was taken due to the drone attack and the participation of British specialists.

Britain on Saturday said Russia's claims, including that British navy personnel blew up the Nord Stream pipelines last month, were false and aimed at distracting attention from Russian military failures in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, accused Russia of inventing "fictitious terrorist attacks on its own facilities" while Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow was using a "false pretext" to sink the deal.

"I call on all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations," Kuleba said.

The United Nations-brokered grain deal is crucial for food markets: it allows the export of grain from Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, that the Russian invasion had halted.

'HUNGER GAMES'

Since Russia and Ukraine signed the U.N.-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in Turkey on July 22, more than 9 million tonnes of corn, wheat, sunflower products, barley, rapeseed and soya have been exported from Ukraine.

But ahead of the Nov. 19 expiry of the grain deal, which allows Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports, Russia has repeatedly said that there are serious problems with it. Western officials says any Ukrainian exports help ease the food crisis.

Russia will officially notify U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shortly of its suspension of the Ukraine Black Sea grain deal, Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said.

The United Nations is in contact with Russian authorities about the situation, a U.N. spokesman said.

United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said only on Wednesday that he was "relatively optimistic" that the deal would be extended beyond mid-November.

"Although the prices in the Western markets were reduced, Russia did not gain anything from this agreement," said Turan Oguz, a Turkish defence analyst. "I think the main reason for Russia's withdrawal is Western indifference towards Russia."

Just 24 hours before Russia suspended participation in the deal, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had appealed to the parties to renew the pact.

"We underline the urgency of doing so to contribute to food security across the world, and to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Dujarric said that "governments, shipping companies, grain and fertilizer traders and farmers all over the world" were looking for clarity on the future of the deal.

Russia's foreign ministry said that following the attacks on Russia's fleet, "the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the "Black Sea Initiative", and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period.

Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said earlier on Saturday that Russia was ready to supply up to 500,000 tonnes of grain to poor countries in the next four months for free, with assistance from Turkey, and supplant supplies of Ukrainian grains.

"Taking into account this year's harvest, the Russian Federation is fully prepared to replace Ukrainian grain and deliver supplies at affordable prices to all interested countries," he said. (Reuters)

A total of five million doses of Pfizer vaccine from Covax's grant have been distributed to 25 provinces in Indonesia. This is done as an effort to fulfill the COVID-19 vaccine stock which was empty in several areas.

"This is our effort to speed up the injection of complete to booster doses of vaccine," said the Director General of Disease Prevention and Control, dr. Maxi Rein Rondonuwu in an official statement in Jakarta, Saturday (10/29/2022).

Half of the vaccines have been distributed to provinces/districts/municipalities, while the rest is the central stock buffer. "We provide the allocation according to requests from the regions," said Maxi.

Maxi reminded that the flow of vaccine injection must be carried out correctly before the storage period ends in February 2023. In accordance with the storage principles of Early Expired First Out (EEFO) and First In First Out (FIFO).

Other considerations for using the Pfizer vaccine include:

1. Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is a COVID-19 vaccine with an mRNA platform administered in 2 doses (@ 0.3 ml) intramuscularly with an interval of 21 days. This vaccine can be given to the age group from 12 years and above as referred to in the BPOM factsheet and the recommendation of the Immunization Expert Advisory Committee.

2. To support the quality of the vaccine, this vaccine can be stored with the following storage temperature management

a. -70°C in Ultra Low Temperature (ULT) cold chain to support vaccine shelf life of 6 months

b. -20°C in the freezer with a shelf life of 2 weeks

c. temperature 2 – 8 °C in a vaccine refrigerator with a shelf life of 30 days

3. Planning must be done carefully so that the vaccine can be used before the shelf life ends with ED February 2023

4. Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is used to meet the need for a 2 (two) dose and a booster dose of COVID-19.

5. In their use, all vaccines observe the _Early Expired First Out_ (EEFO) principle, then the _First In First Out_(FIFO) principle, or in accordance with other binding provisions

6. To support the optimization of the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, coordination with related LS/LPs and health service networks in their respective work areas can be carried out by paying attention to vaccine storage management, administration of COVID-19 vaccination as well as technical recording and reporting in accordance with with applicable technical instructions. (RRI)

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to Japan, Heri Akhmadi said that the unification of youth is the starting point for Indonesian unity in achieving independence. Japan and Indonesia itself will commemorate the establishment of the 65th diplomatic relations

"The most prominent message of the Indonesian Youth Pledge is to unite. The importance of youth's role in the course of history and shaping the future," said Heri in a statement, Saturday (10/29/2022).

Heri emphasized that in the face of global dynamics that are currently developing, the collaboration between countries is absolutely necessary.

“Japan has been one of Indonesia's most important and strategic partners since 1958, and Indonesia-Japan also cooperates closely in regional and multilateral forums. Cooperation is absolutely necessary to face global challenges," said Heri.

Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa conveyed the leadership of the two countries. Indonesia's leadership at the G20 Forum in 2022 and ASEAN in 2023, as well as Japan's leadership at the G7 forum in 2023, are opportunities to deal with global problems.

“The two countries will jointly lead the international community. This is a good opportunity to increase cooperation, not only in bilateral relations between the two countries but also in dealing with various global problems," said Hayashi.

Hayashi said that next year, Japan and Indonesia will commemorate the establishment of the 65th diplomatic relationship. "With the friendship so far, I hope that bilateral cooperation can continue to increase, both in the fields of infrastructure, economy, and security," said Hayashi. (RRI)

Health Ministers of G20 member countries launched the 'Call for Financing Action for Tuberculosis Control'. The call was the result of the first event of the Health working group (HWG) on Tuberculosis (TBC).

Indonesia voiced this, because TB is the second most common cause of death after Covid-19 due to infectious diseases worldwide. The combined impact of TB and Covid-19 could trigger economic instability, which is expected to exacerbate the TB epidemic.

The Director of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, Imran Pambudi revealed that there were eleven items in the call. These include accelerating the development and availability of new TB vaccines, utilizing real resources, surveillance surveillance and digital health.

Furthermore, strengthening infection prevention and control activities. Then, 50% of new infections and deaths from TB are in G20 countries with strong financial capacity.​

“Leaders also expressed support for strengthening international relations and forging partnerships to finance rights-based, gender-sensitive approaches. As well as sustainable multi-sectoral policies and service delivery innovations," said dr. Imran in an official statement received by RRI.co.id, Saturday (29/10/2022).

The Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership, Lucica Ditiu, supports the action for TB control that was developed during Indonesia's G20 presidency. "During the 2023 G20 presidency in India, and will provide leadership for the 2023 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on tuberculosis," said Ditiu.

G20 countries can lead efforts in raising additional resources to close the TB investment gap. Global investment needs to be quadrupled to achieve the funding needed to end TB by 2030.

The Call for Financing Action for the Prevention of Tuberculosis has been prepared by the G20 Presidency of Indonesia in consultation with G20 members. In collaboration with WHO, Stop TB Partnership, Global TB Caucus, Global Fund, USAID, World Bank, and Stop TB Partnership Indonesia. (RRI)