VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno has said that his ministry is preparing tourism packages for six cities that will host the U-20 World Cup in 2023.



"There are six venues in six cities that will be used, namely, Bali as the leading destination, South Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, Jakarta, and Surabaya. We will prepare tour packages for the regions," Uno said at Merdeka Palace, here, on Thursday.



Based on Presidential Instruction Number 8 of 2020 concerning support for the implementation of the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup, which has been postponed till 2023, six stadiums will be prepared to host matches: Bung Karno Main Stadium (Jakarta), Jakabaring Stadium (Palembang, South Sumatra), Si Jalak Harupat Stadium (Bandung, West Java), Manahan Stadium (Surakarta, Central Java), Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium (Surabaya, East Java), and Captain I Wayan Dipta Stadium (Gianyar, Bali).




President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has ordered the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy to prepare tourism promotions, pre and side events, and superior creative economy products, considering that Indonesia has been appointed to host the international football event, Uno informed.



The minister said that he has prepared a number of tourist destinations for the World Cup, including Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in East Java region, Borobudur Temple in Central Java region, natural and culinary tourism in West Java, as well as history-based tourism and leather-based crafts in South Sumatra.



"This includes our approach in digital marketing to bring benefits from this event for our tourism promotion of destinations as well as our creative economy products," he added.




Earlier, Minister of Youth and Sports, Zainudin Amali, had informed that the U-20 World Cup is scheduled to take place from May 20 to June 11, 2023, and will be attended by 24 participating countries, including host Indonesia.



So far, nine other countries have qualified for the 2023 World Cup finals—the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, the United States, England, France, Israel, Italy, and Slovakia.



The event was supposed to be held in 2021, but was postponed by FIFA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Antaranews)

At the 14th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament (14SWSP) convened by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Uzbekistan, Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), Puan Maharani, called for women's leadership in the political world.



"Women should have the same opportunity to reach the top positions in parliament, government, and other public institutions," Maharani said here on Thursday.



She called on all women speakers of parliaments to encourage increased opportunities for women to participate in the decision-making processes in their country.



At the first session of the 14SWSP, which was themed “Overcoming the Risks of Post-Pandemic Global Recovery” and held at the Uzbekistan parliament in Tashkent on Thursday, Maharani stressed the importance of women's leadership in pandemic recovery.



"The pandemic, climate change, food and energy crises, and the impact of geopolitical tensions have impacted the world indiscriminately," she said.



The House Speaker also highlighted that in 2022, there would be 75 million to 95 million people living in extreme poverty, and 828 million people going to bed starving every night.



"Right now, we not only need to recover but also need to build a resilient world, a better world for everyone," she remarked.



In front of other women speakers of parliament, she outlined several ways to build a resilient world.



"The post-pandemic global recovery must uphold the principle of inclusivity. We need a community-centered recovery process. Everyone should take part in our global efforts for recovery," she said.



She further said that 70 percent of health workers involved in COVID-19 handling were women, so she believed that women's leadership would make the world more resilient in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.



"Women's participation will accelerate the recovery process and create a more equal world," she emphasized. (Antaranews)

The current low booster vaccination coverage will need to be addressed before Indonesia can achieve COVID-19 endemic status, head of the Health Support Sub-Division of the COVID-19 Task Force, Alexander K. Ginting, has said.

"Vaccination still becomes a homework (to be done by the government)," he said at the virtual “Talkshow: Measuring the Relevance of Health Protocols,” on Thursday.

The vaccination program is targeting to inoculate more than 235 million people against COVID-19. The coverage of the first dose has reached 86.69 percent, or the equivalent of more than 203 million, while the second dose coverage has touched 72.9 percent, or more than 170 million people, he noted.

However, the current problem is that the coverage of the booster vaccination is still low at 26.05 percent of the total target, or 61 million people, he informed.

"The progress of vaccination coverage is different from last year (in 2021). Nowadays, it only reaches 15 thousand people (per day). However, last year, it could reach 90 thousand people (per day)," he noted.

Hence, the official said that people's access to vaccination centers as well as the implementation of vaccination acceleration programs need to be re-evaluated.

"Last year, the task force, starting from the villages officials and village supervisory non-commissioned officers (Babinsa), was actively involved (in the vaccination program), and it made the vaccination coverage to become high," he noted.

However, when the trend of COVID-19 cases began to move downward, public enthusiasm in vaccination also declined, he said. Although booster vaccination has become a requirement for travelers, vaccination coverage has not been as high as in 2021.

"Hence, it should become our joint campaign to vaccinate the targeted 140 million people," Ginting said.

The main priorities in the vaccination program are the elderly group and the general public, he added.

"The vaccination must be assessed as protection to keep people from getting infected (by the virus). It is expected that the district heads and mayors will provide access for the general community and the elderly groups throughout Indonesia, thus people can get vaccinated," he said.  (Antaranews)

Australia's top central banker opened the door on Thursday to slowing the bank's policy tightening after five rate increases in as many months, sparking a rally in bonds as markets scaled back bets on further aggressive moves.

In a speech on the policy outlook, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe said further rate increases would be needed to contain inflation but the RBA Board was not on a pre-set path and was aware rates had already risen sharply.

"We are conscious that there are lags in the operation of monetary policy and that interest rates have increased very quickly," said Lowe.

"And we recognise that, all else equal, the case for a slower pace of increase in interest rates becomes stronger as the level of the cash rate rises."

Earlier this week, t

The RBA lifted interest rates by half a point on Tuesday to a seven-year high of 2.35%, bringing the increase since May to a steep 225 basis points.

Just the hint of a possible slowdown saw futures lengthen the odds on another hike of 50 basis points in October, with rates now seen more likely to reach 3.0% by December, rather than 3.25%.

Three-year bond yields dropped 10 basis points to 3.16% and the Australian dollar lost 0.5% to $0.6732 .

MISTAKES WERE MADE

Lowe emphasised the Board was committed to bring inflation back to its 2%-3% target band, having been surprised by this year's spike in consumer prices to a 21-year peak of 6.1%.

He said it was important the current high inflation not get built into expectations for price- and wage-settings, adding that, so far, measures of expectations were still consistent with a return to the 2%-3% band.

Lowe conceded the RBA had been badly wrongfooted by the surge in inflation in recent months and said it was important for the bank to learn from those mistakes.

Australia's Labor government in July launched an independent review into the RBA's structure and policies, and how it handled emergency stimulus during the pandemic.

The central bank has come in for much criticism on its forecast mistakes, particularly Lowe's prediction in late 2021 that rates would likely not rise until 2024.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers was forced on Thursday to reject calls for Lowe to be fired, saying he was not going to take "pot shots" at the independent central bank.

Asked about the criticism after his speech, Lowe said: "I have no plans to resign. Look at how much better the economy is now." (Reuters)