VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 18 - The Indonesian Embassy in Moscow with the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation entitled Russia - Indonesia Online Business Forum: "Digital Economy and Tourism Investment Opportunities" (16/03).

The forum aims to bring Russian and Indonesian businesses closer together and improve bilateral relations in the digital economy and tourism investment.

"This is the right time for us to encourage digital economic cooperation between the two countries and promote Indonesian tourism investment to Russia considering the huge potential for cooperation between the two countries," said Indonesian Ambassador to Moscow Jose Tavares

The Russian Ambassador to Indonesia, Lyudmila Vorobieva, mentioned the bright prospects for the information and communication technology (ICT) sector between Indonesia and Russia in supporting fields such as education, data security and banking.

Also opening the event, Vladimir Ilichyov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia, expressed his hopes for a productive dialogue between the businessmen of the two countries.

After the opening ceremony, the Business Forum was continued with a parallel Break Out Session regarding Digital Economy Cooperation and Indonesian Tourism Investment Opportunities.

Panel 1, moderated by Pavel Kalmychek, Deputy Director for Multilateral Cooperation and Special Projects of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, which discussed digital economic cooperation, presented speakers including Dedy Permadi, Staff of the Indonesian Minister of Communication and Information who explained Indonesia's industrial 4.0 strategy and platform and aspects that could be cooperated with Russia.

Meanwhile the Russian speaker, George Mikaberidze, CEO of Rosinfokominvest (a company engaged in Russian information and communication technology investment), conveyed the digitization process 4.0 in Russia as well as solutions and opportunities for collaboration with foreign partners, including Indonesia.

"There are opportunities for cooperation and matchmaking efforts to bridge Russian ICT with Indonesia," concluded Sergey Rossomakhov from the Russian Trade Office in Jakarta.
In Panel 2, guided by Edi Suharto, Minister Counselor of the Indonesian Embassy in Moscow, discussed Indonesian investment opportunities in the tourism sector to Russian participants and potential investors.

Three speakers from Indonesia worked together to promote policies and investment opportunities as well as projects that could be cooperated with the Russian side.

Nurul Ichwan, Deputy Head of BKPM, explained RI's policies that are pro-convenience, pro-growth and pro to equitable distribution of Indonesia's economic development, especially for investment in the tourism sector.

From the western part of Indonesia, Marthunis, Plt. Head of the Aceh Investment and One Stop Integrated Service (DPM-PTSP) Office, emphasized "We offer Russia cooperation in the agricultural industrial sectors, the development of tourist objects, energy and infrastructure in Aceh".

On the same occasion, Ema Widiastuti, Director of Business Development for the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), gave a presentation on investment opportunities in the Special Economic Area of ​​Mandalika. One of the participants from Russia, Alexander Chinyaev, Director of Economic Cooperation of the AFK Sistema Investment Company, briefly shared his experiences in investment cooperation.

"We hope that the business matching at the end of the Forum will result in mutually beneficial collaboration between the business communities of the two countries to promote economic cooperation between Indonesia and Russia," concluded Jose Tavares.

As a follow up, Ekaterina Morozova from Savills Russia (Property Consultant) has exchanged contacts with ITDC and said "The Russian Savills Team will discuss with ITDC regarding a project in Mandalika for investment in the hotel sector".

A total of 134 participants showed high enthusiasm in participating in the Forum, not only from entrepreneurs, also attending from Ministries / Institutions of the two countries. Several companies / institutions were recorded that were present, including Elken Global, AECOM, KADIN, Telkomtelstra, Searchrinform Russia, Russian Export Center, and MAXIM Taxi Service. (VOI)

Mar. 17 - The State-owned Enterprises (SOE) Ministry is preparing to set up joint vaccination centers in several cities, such as Semarang, Surabaya, Bandung, and Banten, as part of efforts to build herd immunity against COVID-19.

"The plan is that next week we will open it (joint vaccination center) in Semarang, (and) at the end of March, we will open it in Surabaya,” spokesperson for the SOE Ministry, Arya Sinulingga, revealed here on Tuesday.

The ministry is also planning to expand its immunization capacity by extending the vaccination venue to the Tennis Indoor Senayan Building in the Gelora Bung Karno Senayan area, Jakarta, from just Istora Senayan previously, he added.

The vaccination capacity at Istora Senayan has reached five thousand to seven thousand people per day, Arya said.

With the addition of the Tennis Indoor Building, Arya said he hopes that COVID-19 vaccination coverage from the BUMN Ministry for the Jakarta area can be increased to 12 thousand to 14 thousand people per day.

The joint vaccination center set up by the ministry at Istora Senayan has been functional for the last nine days.

According to Arya, the public's enthusiasm for the vaccination program has been very high.

On Tuesday (March 16, 2021), 7,500 people were vaccinated at the joint vaccination center, Arya informed.

"The possibility is that the vaccination of the elderly plus public service officers on the 9th day has reached 50 thousand today," he added.

The SOE Ministry is planning to open joint vaccination centers in Bandung and Banten during the second phase of the national vaccination program in April, 2021.

Each center will target to vaccinate up to five thousand people every day, as part of efforts to expedite the COVID-19 vaccination program in Indonesia, Arya said.

So far, the government has vaccinated 4,468,951 Indonesians against the coronavirus. Of the total figure, 1,716,749 people have received their second vaccine dose as well. (Antaranews)

Mar. 17 - President Joko Widodo has predicted that Bali Island's tourism sector would begin to revive around the middle of this year, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister, Sandiaga Uno, said.

However, there are preconditions that Bali must fulfill in order to bring its tourism sector back on track, he added.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has highlighted the importance of managing the COVID-19 infection rate as it is important to Bali's tourism recovery, Uno said here on Tuesday.

He also underlined the importance of a successful vaccination program and public support for the implementation of health protocols, contact tracing, and self-isolation, he added.

"If all vaccine doses are distributed, President Jokowi expects that Bali's tourism sector could start reviving by June or July this year," the minister said.

Uno joined Widodo during his official trip to Bali to observe the mass COVID-19 inoculation program in Puri Agung Ubud Palace and Kuta Beach.

During the visit to Gianyar district and Denpasar city, the head of state was also accompanied by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin and Bali Governor Wayan Koster.

To ensure that the vaccination program is implemented properly, President Widodo spoke with local religious and community leaders as well as frontline public servants, Uno revealed.

The COVID-19 vaccination program is one of the preconditions that needs to be fulfilled before reopening Bali's tourism for travelers, especially foreign tourists, said Uno.

"The preparations for the reopening of Bali's tourism must be made carefully through a strict and disciplined implementation of health protocols," he added.

Any mistake that could trigger a rise in infection rate should be avoided, he said, adding that the President has urged the Balinese people to remain optimistic.

"Hope is on the way," he remarked.

Prior to President Widodo's official visit to Bali, Uno had met with the Bali Governor on February 11, 2021.

During the meeting, Uno had highlighted the importance of vaccinating 1.2 million workers in Bali's tourism sector to boost public trust in the resort island.

"We pray for Bali's immediate recovery. If the tourism sector revives, the economy will get back on track. Speaking of Indonesia's tourism, it will never be separated from Bali," he remarked.

Indonesia has been striving to win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic since the government officially announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

The government has rolled out a nationwide vaccination program this year to arrest the spread of infections.

According to the Health Ministry, it would take 15 months to vaccinate around 181.5 million people under the national program.

Indonesia's COVID-19 infection rate crossed one million cases on January 26, 2021.

To attain herd immunity and free the nation from the clutches of the pandemic, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has stressed on the need for successfully administering the COVID-19 vaccine to the targeted population.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease has dragged Indonesia into serious public health and economic crises.

Tourism has been among the severely-affected economic sectors in the country, and Bali tourism has especially been badly battered by the pandemic. (Antaranews)

Mar. 17 - Technology and innovation must become the mainstay of the economy if national development has to be achieved, Minister of Research and Technology and head of the National Research and Innovation Agency, Bambang Brodjonegoro, has said.

“Science technology and innovation are no longer a sector, but must become the foundation of national development. In other words, I also want to emphasize that it is time for science and innovation to become mainstream in national economic development," the minister said during a webinar on ‘Enhancing Knowledge & Innovation Ecosystems for a Better Indonesia’ here on Tuesday.

The webinar was organized by the Knowledge Sector Initiative (KSI) and Kompas daily.

Without mainstreaming innovation, Indonesia would find it difficult to escape the middle-income trap, Brodjonegoro said.

"If I can say honestly, we could not even dream of escaping the middle-income trap, considering that our journey so far has focused more on natural resources-based economy," he explained.

By bringing science technology and innovation to the mainstream, Indonesia can automatically create an inclusive innovation-based economy, he said.

One of the countries implementing innovations, especially in technology, is China, he noted. China has become one of the countries with the largest GDPs (gross domestic product) in the world and it has almost reached the position of a high-income country, he remarked.

China has also succeeded in drastically reducing its poverty rate, while at the same time maintaining equal distribution of income between residents, the minister noted.

"This is perhaps a lesson we have to learn where an innovation-based economy is not only growth-oriented, but also rotates to alleviate poverty and maintain or improve equity," he said.

Brodjonegoro stressed the need to formulate regulations supporting innovation, and said there must be no regulation that hampers innovation.

At the webinar, Minister of National Development Planning, Suharso Monoarfa, said that his party is ready to support the implementation of the Knowledge and Innovation Ecosystem Blueprint.

He said the knowledge and innovation ecosystem approach would be integrated into the Government Work Plan (RKP) 2022 and the National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPN) for 2026-2045. (Antaranews)