The Indonesian Embassy in Beirut has acknowledged its continued support for trade cooperation improvement between Indonesia and Lebanon. Indonesian Ambassador to Lebanon Hajriyanto Y Thohari gave the Primaduta Award to Lebanese businessman and importer, George R Fattouh. The award was given for his service in helping market Indonesian products in Paris from the Middle East. The award was given at a ceremony at the Indonesian Embassy in Beirut, Thursday (11/1) Fatough, is the owner of George R. Fattouh S.A.L, a business that has been importing Indonesian products since the 1980s. It has a range of products, including: palm oil and its derivatives, oil and fats (including cocoa butter substitute, fat spread, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, and lauric confectionery fats), cardboard, stationary, and school equipment. Some Indonesian products are now even available at famous retail networks, such as Spinney’s and Carrefour. In 2022, the value imported by George R. Fattough S.A.L of Indonesian products, was 981.3 million USD. This was a 149.5 million USD increase when compared to 2021. Fattouh said Indonesian products are known for their quality and are in high demand in Lebanese markets. However, he said, the challenge now is increasing freight costs due to security challenges in the region.
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Listeners, a number of delicious dishes were served to the guests of Dhaup Ageng Pura Pakualaman Yogyakarta, at the wedding reception of the youngest son of K.G.P.A.A. Paku Alam X, namely B.P.H. Kusumo Kuntonugroho with Laily Annisa Kusumastuti which was held on January 10, 2024.Head of the Customs and Accommodation Division, Dhaup Ageng Pura Pakualaman, KRT Radyo Wisroyo said that the menu served to guests was quite varied. These menus are typical menus prepared by Pakualaman Pura, Indonesian menus and western food menus were also available. All invited guests including VIP and VVIP guests got the same menu. The first menu served to welcome guests, namely two types of welcome drink, namely lime lemongrass and ginger drink with lime. The welcome drink was given when guests sat down and watched the Bedhaya Sidamukti and Bedhaya Kakung Indrawidagda dance performances. Next, they gotsnacks for appetizer such as croquettes and other light snacks. There is a snack that is considered quite special and rare called Garulina. Garulina was the opening snack at the Pahargyan Dhaup Ageng Pakualaman lunch on the first day. Garulina has been around since the era before Indonesian independence. Garulina is actually not a typical Central Javanese food. It looks like the Lapis Legit layered cake, but there is something different, because there is a special layer like vla which is made from fresh milk, eggs and sugar. To get this sweet snack, Pakulaman Temple has to place a special order from the third generation of makers who have been pioneering since the 1950s. In Jogja, Garulina is very difficult to find and is considered rare because it is not sold every day.
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The importing company of Italy, "Balibali Srl '' received the Primaduta Award 2021 from the Trade Attache of the Indonesian Embassy in Rome, Italy. The owner of Balibali Srl, Fabio Giuseppe Lanzieri received the award from the Trade Attache of the Indonesian Embassy in Rome, Silvi Sumanti and it was witnessed by Ambassador Muhammad Prakosa and the Economic and Social Function Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) Milan at the Indonesian Embassy in Rome. A written statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Rome received in Jakarta on Sunday (30/1) stated that Balibali Srl is an importer of sandals and ethnic fashion products of Indonesia. Balibali was selected as one of the 25 winners of the 2021 Primaduta Award through a selection process from 303 importers from 50 proposed countries.
The victory of Balibali at the Primaduta Award was also announced at the opening of the 36th Trade Expo Indonesia Digital Edition on 21 October 2021. Fabio Giuseppe Lanzieri, the owner of Balibali explained that he was very impressed with the quality of the product, the agility and thoroughness of sandals’ product in Bali during his visit to Bali a few years ago. Lanzieri has been deciding to start importing Balisnese sandals, rattan bags, belts and sarongs to Italy since 2003. Over the years, the company has perfected the quality, material and packaging of various products with Indonesian craftsmen and expanded the market for Indonesian products in Italy and Europe.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador to Rome, Muhammad Prakosa expressed his appreciation for the contribution of Balibali Srl in promoting and increasing exports of Indonesian products in Italy and he also hopes that cooperation with Indonesian businessespeiple, particularly small and medium enterprises can be continuously improved. The Primaduta Award is an award given by the Government of Indonesia to foreign importers in a bid to boost the growth of Indonesia's exports to the global markets.
According to the researcher of the Mechanical Engineering Study Program at the Faculty of Engineering, Gajah Mada University (UGM), Dr. Gesang Nugroho, in recent years Indonesia's forest area has been shrinking, mostly due to forest fires and illegal logging. Geographical conditions, extensive peat-lands, lack of road access, limited human resources, and lack of facilities pose major problems in monitoring and extinguishing fires early. Therefore, early detection of hotspots in the forest is needed to avoid the spread of forest fires. Seeing this problem, Dr. Gesang Nugroho has developed a drone for early detection of forest fires. The drone is named ‘ELANG CARAKA’.
The drone, Elang Caraka, is designed to be able to fly for six hours with a distance of 200 km to carry out regional surveillance autonomously. Dr. Gesang Nugroho explained that the operator can control the drone remotely and view the recorded images directly through the monitor on the Ground Control Station. Elang Caraka has a wingspan of 3.6 m and a fuselage of 1.92 m, and is equipped with a thermal camera to transmit live aerial footage, which can be viewed on the ground. The drone can detect fires with the Intelligent Electrical Nose (E-nose) sensor which is able to detect the presence of smoke which is indicated by an increase in the output graph of the intelligent sensor compared to normal smokeless conditions. E-nose works like a human nose, using an array of gas sensors that can detect the smoke.
Elang Caraka can also be operated day and night. This drone has a plus because the fire monitoring which has so far used helicopters can only be done during the day. So, if a forest fire occurs at night, the fire has already grown and is more difficult to extinguish. In addition, there is much operational cost. But, Elang Caraka is cheaper than helicopters. So, it is hoped that the presence of the Elang Caraka drone will be able to reduce the number of forest fires in Indonesia.
The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Canberra introduced Topeng Tua dance performance in a cultural festival which was held as a form of the Indonesian Embassy's participation in the Chinese New Year Festival in the capital of Australia on Saturday (29/1). The Chinese New Year Festival is taking place from 27 January to 12 February 2022.
Education and Culture Attache of the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra, Mukhamad Najib explained that the cultural festival in Canberra is aimed at introducing Indonesian culture amid a multicultural society.
The Topeng Tua dance or popularly called the Pak Tua dance is part of the legendary traditional Balinese dance. So far, mask dance in Bali has two functions, namely as an entertainment show and as a complement of religious ceremonies. It is further stated that in Bali itself, Pak Tua dance is held as a complement of a religious ceremony called the Werda Lumaku dance.
During the performance in Canberra, the dancer walks up to the audience and dances in slow motion. Once in a while, the dancer takes deep breaths as if gasping for air and making movements to wipe the sweat from her mask in a humorous fashion. Then, the dancer sits and stares empty into the sky as if depicting an old man who is reminiscing about his past when he was young.
In addition to the Pak Tua dance, the cultural festival also held training on playing Angklung led by Rubby M. Al Burhan, a local staff member of the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra.
The festival was attended by the people of Canberra and visitors of cafes and shopping centers in the Dickson area. They seemed happy and enjoyed the show, which was shown. Seeing the enthusiasm of the people of Canberra, the Indonesian Embassy plans to hold more cultural festivals to introduce Indonesia's cultural heritage.
The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Budapest, Hungary held an "A Day in Indonesia" event to promote Indonesian culture and tourism to the Hungarian people. The Indonesian Embassy in Budapest in its statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday stated that the event took place at Eőtvős 10 Cultural House in Budapest. The Indonesian Ambassador to Hungary AH Dimas Wahab noted that the event was a brief introduction at the beginning of a series of promotions of Indonesian culture and tourism which would be carried out throughout 2022. He also hopes that with the health protocols and the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly Hungarian people and the European community, in general, are able to return to visit many tourism destinations in Indonesia.
The promotion event of culture and tourism entitled "A Day in Indonesia" began with the screening of a music video from Indonesian children incorporated in the Indonesian Love Action. One of the unique and interesting things about this event was when most of the dancers performed a number of Indonesian traditional dances as Hungarian citizens.
Meanwhile, the gamelan musicians who performed classical Javanese instruments, including Ladrang Blabak, Gambyong, and Pangkur, were alumni of the Indonesian Darmasiswa, and the Hungarian people who learned to play gamelan at the Indonesian Embassy in Budapest. Then, Indonesian students and University students affiliated with the Indonesian Overseas Students Association in Hungary also enlivened the event by performing the Mask dance from Betawi and the Saman dance from Aceh.
Furthermore, the visitors to the "A Day in Indonesia" event were able to enjoy various Indonesian typical dishes, including chicken satay, Woku chicken, chicken soup, goat curry served by Restaurant ASLI, an Indonesian restaurant in Hungary. A number of Indonesian typical market snacks were also presented, such as Wajik, Risol, Omelet, and Lemper. During the cultural promotion event, the visitors must follow health protocols by showing their Covid-19 immunity card first, using hand sanitizer before entering, and wearing masks while inside the building. Then, the maximum number of visitors only allowed to enter the building was 180 people.
Indonesia received an appreciation as the largest importer of dates from Egypt, which was marked by the receipt of an award from Governor of Marsa Matrouh Province, Major General Khaled Shuaib to the Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt Lutfi Rauf on the side-lines of the 5th Egyptian Date Palm Festival 2022 in Siwa City, Egypt last Sunday (23/1).
Governor Major General Khaled Shuaib expressed his high appreciation for the trust of the largest importers of Egyptian dates, especially importers from Indonesia, Morocco, and Malaysia. He also said that the award was given as an appreciation to the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, which has promoted Egyptian dates to Indonesian citizens and provided assistance to Egyptian companies to conduct business communications with importers in Indonesia.
In his remarks, Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt, Lutfi Rauf in Egypt, explained that the total trade between Indonesia and Egypt during the Covid-19 pandemic experienced an encouraging increase. In the period January to November 2021, it reached US$1.63 billion, up 53.52 percent when compared to the same period 2020. The main imported products from Egypt include rock phosphate, dates, molasses, citrus oranges, and potatoes.
Indonesia is included in the top three largest date importing countries from Egypt. According to Egyptian statistical data, in the period January - September 2021, the exports of Egyptian dates to Indonesia reached a value of US$10.34 million with a market share of 17.89 percent of the total exports of Egyptian dates worldwide.
Ambassador Lutfi added that research and development collaboration are in need between Indonesian-Egyptian researchers and academics in seeing the benefits of dates. This has been done by the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Muslim Indonesia (UMI) in collaboration with the date management institution in Madinah KSA. They investigated the efficacy of Aiwa dates which can reduce the risk of hypertension in pregnancy and suppress menopause with very good results. The 2022 date festival held from 22 to 24 January 2022 was attended by more than 200 date producers from Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Mauritania, and Tunisia.
Crime is now rampant. Crimes, such as theft, pickpocketing, and robbery often target wallets by exploiting the carelessness of their owners. Therefore, students of Yogyakarta State University (UNY) create a wallet equipped with a security system that will provide information to the owner, if the wallet is more than 10 meters apart from its owner. Uniquely, the wallet is made of banana midrib fiber which is given a Javanese letter motif.
The students make Smart Wallets or Dompi. The materials needed are Bluetooth HC-05 Module, Arduino UNO, PCB, connecting cable, capacitor, buzzer, resistor, lithium battery, tin soldier, charger pin, and push button. Meanwhile, the tools needed are a soldering iron, IDEA Software, Arduino Application, and Bluetooth Simple. To assemble it, the material is assembled on the PCB, then set the programming code on the IDEA application and wraps the sensor in a box to make it safe, and neatly visible. The sensor on the wallet will inform if it is 10 meters away from the owner's device by sounding like a siren. This sensor is connected to the device via Bluetooth and the owner just needs to track the whereabouts of the wallet through the device.
This product is created as a creative effort to preserve culture and promote local culture. They use banana stems because so far, it has only become waste and polluted the environment. In addition, to raise public interest, they make wallets with Javanese script patterns to introduce the nation's culture as well as to improve knowledge of Javanese script, where Javanese script is increasingly rare in existence. They also added a science motif to attract the attention of scientists, to educate the public, and to add to the unique value of the innovative wallet. This work won funds from the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology in the Student Creativity Program in the field of Entrepreneurship in 2021.
Indonesian Ambassador to South Korea, Gandi Sulistiyanto invited businesspeople of South Korea and Indonesia to cooperate to boost the trade volume of both countries in many sectors. The Indonesian Embassy in Seoul in its written statement on Friday (21/1) stated that Ambassador Gandi Sulistiyanto at a business forum organized by the Korea-Indonesia Management Association (KIMA) explained that in the era of President Joko Widodo's government, the economic diplomacy is carried out as a stimulus for development.
The reinforcement of economic cooperation of both countries was marked by the signing of the Indonesia-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IK-CEPA) at the end of 2020. Moreover, the construction of an electric car by the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Indonesia (HHMI) factory is also a real manifestation of Indonesia and South Korea's commitment to move forward the economy and the welfare of the people of both countries. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Indonesia, which is intended to be a hub for electric car production, plans to produce electric cars in Southeast Asia with a total 250,000 units per year.
Furthermore, Ambassador Gandi noted that his assignment as the Indonesian Ambassador to Seoul coincided with the Indonesian Presidency at the G20. Bringing the theme "Recover Together, Recover Stronger", Indonesia invites the 19 largest economies in the world, including South Korea to focus on three main agendas, namely restructuring global health architecture, digital-based transformation and energy transition.
The Education & Cultural Attaché Office along with the Information, Social and Cultural Function of the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra encouraged Indonesian language internationalization by holding a coordination meeting with Indonesian Language and Cultural Agencies across Australia on Saturday (22/01).
Indonesian Education and Cultural Attaché in Canberra, Mukhamad Najib in his press release in Jakarta on Saturday said that he would try to maximally promote the Indonesian language in Australia. According to Mukhamad Najib, making the Indonesian language popular again in Australia is a challenge amid the tight competition with other Asian languages, such as Chinese and Japanese. Nevertheless, he fully supported Indonesian language internationalization and admitted to being optimistic that can be done and the Indonesian Language and Cultural Agencies across Australia can be the driving force.
Najib further explained that there are three stages in making the Indonesian language popular again and can penetrate the people in Australia. The first stage is building people's awareness about the importance of the Indonesian language for Australian people. The second stage is facilitating people's interest in the Indonesian language and culture. The third one is encouraging Australian people to adopt the Indonesian language and culture.
In the future, the Indonesian Education and Cultural Attaché in Canberra also has an agenda to rebrand Indonesian culture because until now the people of Australia have a perception that Indonesian culture is an only traditional culture. According to Najib, Indonesian modern culture also includes a pop culture that is more suitable for younger people.
Crime is now rampant. Crimes, such as theft, pickpocketing, and robbery often target wallets by exploiting the carelessness of their owners. Therefore, students of Yogyakarta State University (UNY) create a wallet equipped with a security system that will provide information to the owner, if the wallet is more than 10 meters apart from its owner. Uniquely, the wallet is made of banana midrib fiber which is given a Javanese letter motif.
The students make Smart Wallets or Dompi. The materials needed are Bluetooth HC-05 Module, Arduino UNO, PCB, connecting cable, capacitor, buzzer, resistor, lithium battery, tin soldier, charger pin, and push button. Meanwhile, the tools needed are a soldering iron, IDEA Software, Arduino Application, and Bluetooth Simple. To assemble it, the material is assembled on the PCB, then set the programming code on the IDEA application and wraps the sensor in a box to make it safe, and neatly visible. The sensor on the wallet will inform if it is 10 meters away from the owner's device by sounding like a siren. This sensor is connected to the device via Bluetooth and the owner just needs to track the whereabouts of the wallet through the device.
This product is created as a creative effort to preserve culture and promote local culture. They use banana stems because so far, it has only become waste and polluted the environment. In addition, to raise public interest, they make wallets with Javanese script patterns to introduce the nation's culture as well as to improve knowledge of Javanese script, where Javanese script is increasingly rare in existence. They also added a science motif to attract the attention of scientists, to educate the public, and to add to the unique value of the innovative wallet. This work won funds from the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology in the Student Creativity Program in the field of Entrepreneurship in 2021.
The Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) held an online meeting with Indonesian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Ahmad MA and a delegation from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) Saudi Arabia. The meeting, which was held on Thursday (20/1), was aimed at discussing opportunities for cooperation.
At the meeting, Director of Industry Collaboration of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) Saudi Arabia, Dr Sadiq Sait Mohammed along with and his staff was present. From the presentation, Ambassador Abdul Aziz Ahmad said that ITS and KFUPM are universities that can create great collaborations in the fields of science and technology.
Meanwhile, Senior Manager of ITS Global Engagement, Astria Nur Irfansyah explained about ITS research areas. From the explanation, there are similarities in the field of research between ITS and KFUPM. The similarity lies in the research center for materials, renewable energy, and nanotechnology. This collaboration can be carried out in the field of technology using various disciplines.
After the brief presentation from ITS, Dr Sadiq Sait Mohammed responded that the collaboration between ITS and KFUPM could be started by focusing on the latest research. At the end of the meeting, Ambassador Abdul Aziz Ahmad hoped that the cooperation between ITS and KFUPM would soon be established. He believes that the government and industry will fully support the cooperation, because both of them will also benefit from the results of the cooperation.