VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The 144th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has agreed on a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Thousands of delegates representing parliaments from 115 countries agreed on the peaceful resolution following a series of sessions and debates, which were led by Indonesian House Speaker Puan Maharani in her capacity as chief of the IPU Assembly this year.

“Indonesia has played a pivotal role in drafting the resolution. We joined the formulation committee. Indonesia has, from the beginning, underscored the significance of IPU’s central role in seeking a balanced solution to the Ukrainian issue,” she said at a press conference following the conclusion of the 144th IPU Assembly in BICC, here on Thursday.

During the Assembly, which was held from March 20 to 24, 2022, each member state was allowed to propose a draft resolution (emergency item).

The Ukrainian parliamentary delegation’s draft resolution on the Russia-Ukraine conflict urged IPU to denounce the military action by Russia and Belarus in Ukraine.

However, according to the Indonesian delegation, the view can risk deteriorating the conflict and hindering peace efforts, chief of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Board (BKSAP) at the House of Representatives (DPR,) Fadli Zon, said.

Zon is an Indonesian representative who joined the team formulating the final draft resolution on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Hence, during the general debate on March 21, 2022, Indonesia proposed a draft resolution, followed by New Zealand.

With Ukraine withdrawing its proposal, only draft proposals from Indonesia and New Zealand were presented. Although Indonesia’s draft proposal received less support, several points of Indonesia’s draft proposal were incorporated in New Zealand’s draft proposal.

The points stressed the collective role of parliaments to open up dialog between Russia and Ukraine and set up a task force to serve as a liaison for the two conflicting parties.

"Indonesia has convinced IPU to agree on the setting up of a task force to encourage the creation of peaceful solution to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Of course, at the session, Indonesia discussed the importance of mainstreaming gender equality and women’s and youths’ participation in decision-making,” Maharani said.

The effort to mainstream gender equality was taken up by the Forum of Women Parliamentarians — an IPU body comprising women members of parliament. This year, the IPU Forum of Women Parliamentarians was led by Irine Yusiana Roba Putri of the Indonesian House of Representatives. (Antaranews)

Indonesian President, Joko Widodo accompanied by the Tourism and creative economy, Sandiaga Uno walking around the INACRAFT exhibition 2022 - 

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy/Head of Tourism and Creative Economy Agency Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno accompanied President Joko Widodo to open "The 22nd Jakarta International Handicraft Trade Fair (INACRAFT) 2022", which is the largest handicraft exhibition event in Southeast Asia.

The return of INACRAFT this year will be a space for creative economy players, particularly the craft sub-sector, to showcase and market the best creative and creative products so that they can encourage economic revival by creating more job opportunities.

Kemenparekraf itself presents the Kemenparekraf Pavilion which facilitates 16 selected brands to promote and sell products.

"This creative product exhibition is one of the strategic steps in moving the country's creative economy sector back. Local creative economy products have the same good quality as imported products. This is our joint effort to restore the economy, especially through creative economy SMEs ," said Menparekraf Sandiaga Uno, Wednesday (23/3/2022) at the JCC Senayan, Jakarta.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Thursday (24/03/22), INACRAFT 2022 will take place at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) from 23 to 27 March 2022. After two years of absence from offline exhibitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Inacraft in 2021! is online, while this year's INACRAFT is held in a hybrid manner with strict health protocols and discipline.

This international-scale national craft exhibition was attended by 722 participants consisting of 510 individual participants, 169 service-assisted participants and 43 BUMN-assisted participants, as well as 150 _merchant stores_ for each online activity. INACRAFT 2022 will also present the INACRAFT Virtual Exhibition, INACRAFT Marketplace, and INACRAFT x Tokopedia.

Based on Focus Economy Outlook 2020 data, the creative economy contributed IDR 1,100 trillion to Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) throughout 2020.

The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy will continue to strive to generate economic growth, especially the creative economy. Including supporting a good ecosystem for creative economy actors. He also encourages people to love and appreciate by buying local creative economy products.

"Creative economy is a future industry that plays a big role in building the national economy. They (creative economic actors) are job creators and opener for community economic recovery. So I really support it," said Sandiaga.

President Joko Widodo previously expressed his appreciation for the re-organization of INACRAFT in 2022. He advised the public to always love domestic products.

In an effort to encourage creative economy actors in economic revival and job creation, Kemenparekraf/Baparekraf facilitates 16 local brands to promote and market their best products in the Kemenparekraf Pavilion at INACRAFT 2022. The Kemenparekraf Pavilion is located in Booth H (Main Lobby JCC) and has an area of 72m.

The Marketing Director of the Creative Economy Kemenparekraf/Baparekraf, Yuana Rochma Astuti, revealed that the 16 brands were determined through curation results in stages by taking into account various aspects. Starting from the readiness of products to enter the market, human resources, potential transactions, etc.

The determination of the name was facilitated through two stages, namely administrative selection and curation. A total of 112 registrants were selected into 66 participants to take part in the curation process. The curation is carried out in a hybrid way, by two curators who are experts in craft and product design, namely Diana Nazir (Principal Designer Artura Insanindo) and Fauzy Kamal (Founder of Kandura Studio).

INACRAFT 2022 targets 50,000 visitors (offline) and 10,000 visitors (online) with a transaction target of IDR 50 billion for the main exhibition and IDR 150 million for virtual exhibitions and INACRAFT marketplace. Meanwhile, the INACRAFT x Tokopedia activity targets a transaction of IDR 1.5 billion with 1 million visitors//VOI

Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Arifin Tasrif called for the use of electric vehicles to reduce carbon emissions in Indonesia at the Conventional-to-Electric Converted Motorcycle Parade here on Wednesday.

The parade was among Indonesia’s G20 Presidency side events. The first meeting of the 2022 G20 Energy Transition Working Group (ETWG) is scheduled to take place on March 24–25, 2022, in Yogyakarta.

"The activity is in line with our attempt to reduce emissions, therefore, we continue to increase the use of electric vehicles. We have just tested the conventional motorcycles, which we have converted," the minister said.

In addition to reducing carbon emissions, vehicle conversion can reduce fuel consumption and encourage the development of other supporting industries, he added.

"Currently, there are more than 100 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (SPKLUs), with 85 percent of them using home charging system. We will continue to encourage the utilization of electrical energy to lessen (the use of) fossil fuels," he stated.

The ESDM Ministry is aiming to convert 120 million conventional vehicles into electric ones across Indonesia in the next 10 years.

"If each of the 120 million vehicles uses two liters of fuel per day, hence, through the vehicle conversion program, we will save 240 million liters of fuel per day," Tasrif noted.

The utilization of electric vehicles will also help vehicle owners save on spending since electric energy is cheaper than fuel, he added.

"We assume that using two liters of fuel will cost about Rp24 thousand (equivalent to US$1.66 as US$1 is Rp14,429 as of March 23, 2022). However, people will only spend a quarter of the amount if they use electrical energy—which is about Rp6 thousand (equivalent to US$0.42),” the minister said.

Hence, the owners of the vehicles will have a lot of savings, he noted.  (Antaranews)

Indonesian House Speaker Puan Maharani and President of the Senate of Thailand Pornpetch Wichitcholchai discussed plans for the pandemic-to-endemic transition in their respective countries during a bilateral meeting in Bali on Wednesday.

During the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the 144th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, they both agreed that the transition period needs to be prepared carefully to guarantee effective recovery programs.

"Various adjustments have been made by Indonesia. The Indonesian House of Representatives has participated in supervising the government's efforts, which draw up a road map to the endemic," Maharani told Wichitcholchai.

They also shared experiences regarding efforts for recovering the tourism sector considering that it is one of the main sources of foreign exchange for both Indonesia and Thailand.

"I encourage the cooperation between the two countries to revitalize tourism," Maharani said.

Aside from tourism, she also pushed for increasing trade and investment cooperation. She welcomed the Thai National Assembly’s approval for the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) on the establishment of the Indonesian and Thai Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group.

According to Maharani, the House is still reviewing the MoU and the draft will be completed soon.

During the 144th IPU Assembly, she also met Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim, Speaker of the Kuwait National Assembly, and discussed women's empowerment policies.

"We see that women's empowerment contributes greatly to peace, democracy, human rights, and the handling of COVID-19," she remarked.

On the same day, she also met the President of the National Parliament of Timor-Leste, Aniceto Longuinhos.

Maharani and Longuinhos discussed border negotiations that have not been resolved until now.

"We ask for the support of the Timor-Leste (Parliament) to expedite the completion of the determination of land borders in the Noel Besi-Citrana segment and the Bijael Sunan-Oben segment," she said.

Maharani further said that Indonesia supports full membership for Timor Leste in ASEAN and ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.  (Antaranews)