VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia, which is chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, is collaborating with the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) to strengthen the digital economy in the region.

As a concrete collaboration, the two parties have launched a virtual platform called Digital Innovation and Sustainable Economy Center (DISC), which will serve as a medium for harboring ideas and innovations for developing the digital economy in ASEAN countries.

"This (DISC) constitutes one of Indonesia's flagship measures to carry out digitalization with the objective of promoting inclusive financial (systems) and developing as well as empowering small and medium enterprises," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said in Jakarta on Thursday.

During a symposium themed "Digital Economy and Sustainability," the minister expressed the belief that the optimization of DISC will help his ministry to develop and support Indonesia's talents in the digital economy and develop a special economic zone in Batam city, Riau Islands province.

"Indonesia is also pushing for the establishment of a number of co-working spaces that can facilitate youths to prepare for running their businesses in an ecosystem we are about to create," he added.

The minister then cited 2022 data, which showed that Indonesia had cornered as much as 40 percent of the ASEAN's digital economy market. The country's digital economy value is projected to reach US$400 billion by 2030, he noted.

Indonesia will strive to finalize and optimize the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) to reach the projected figure.

The gross merchandise value (GMV) of online commerce in ASEAN reached US$194 billion in 2022, an increase of 90 percent compared to 2019.

"Indonesia's GMV is recorded at US$70 billion and will reach US$150 billion by 2025. It should also be noted that ASEAN is home to over 4,500 start-up companies, with about 2 thousand of them based in Indonesia," he noted.

On the same occasion, ERIA president Tetsuya Watanabe said that his side and the Indonesian government aim to make DISC a sustainable platform that can help ASEAN countries develop their digital economy.

"The launching of DISC marks an important milestone in the journey of ASEAN toward a digitally empowered future," he added. (Antaranews)

The head of a Dubai-based conglomerate on Wednesday said Afghanistan's Taliban authorities had stopped around 100 women from travelling to the United Arab Emirates where he was to sponsor their university education.

Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, founding chairman of Al Habtoor Group, said in a video posted on X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, that he had planned to sponsor the female students to attend university and a plane he had paid for had been due to fly them to the UAE on Wednesday morning.

"Taliban government refused to allow the girls who were coming to study here – a hundred girls sponsored by me - they refused them to board the plane and already we have paid for the aircraft, we have organised everything for them here, accommodation, education, transportation security," he said in the video.

Spokespeople for the Taliban administration and Afghan foreign affairs ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Al Habtoor included audio of one of the Afghan students who said that she had been accompanied by a male chaperone but airport authorities in Kabul had stopped her and others from boarding the flight.

The Taliban administration have closed universities and high schools to female students in Afghanistan.

They allow Afghans to leave the country but usually require Afghan women travelling long distances and abroad to be accompanied by a male chaperone, such as their husband, father or brother. (Reuters)

Taiwan's government on Thursday said it will from this month allow Chinese tourists and business people to visit again as it seeks to resume exchanges halted by the COVID-19 pandemic and extend an olive branch to Beijing.

China, which has been gradually resuming permission for its nationals to visit a host of popular tourist destinations including Japan, has yet to add Taiwan back on its approved list.

In 2019, China halted individual tourism permits for Taiwan amid rising tensions over the democratically governed island that Beijing claims as its sovereign territory.

Taiwan's China policy-making Mainland Affairs Council said that business people from China will be allowed from Monday to apply for short term visits such as for attending exhibitions, and will from Sept. 1 allow Chinese who live in third countries to come as tourists.

Tour groups from China will be limited to 2,000 arrivals per day, but the actual date from when this will begin will depend on the reaction of the Chinese government, the council added in a statement.

"We hope the mainland side will also take steps and meet us halfway to facilitate the promotion and implementation of the plans," it said.

There was no immediate reaction from China to the announcement.

Taiwan's government has been trying to improve relations with China starting with less sensitive issues like tourism, but China has instead blamed Taiwan for problems, including a slow resumption of direct flights.

Tourism is not a mainstay of Taiwan's tech-oriented economy, but the island is an increasingly fashionable destination for mainly Asian tourists attracted by its renowned food scene, history and mountains.

Taiwan has set a target of 6 million tourist arrivals this year. (Reuters)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the Kumsong Tractor Factory on Wednesday alongside his powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, amid the ongoing food crisis, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.

The visit, accompanied by senior officials, saw the leader urge the factory to play an important role in solving the food crisis which he described as an important business for the country's future.

Kim also called for goals to be set to modernize the country's agricultural machinery production process and for it to reach the "world-class" level, the report said.

North Korea has been pushing agriculture amid growing concerns over food shortages. Some analysts have said the factory may also manufacture parts for missile launch vehicles.

South Korea's unification minister, charged with handling relations with its neighbour, said earlier this year that the food situation in the North is "still bad" despite a small increase in trade with China.

The North has suffered serious food shortages in recent decades, including famine in the 1990s, often as a result of natural disasters, and international experts have warned that border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic worsened matters.

Earlier this week, Kim criticized top officials over their response to flood damage including over 270 hectares (667 acres) of rice paddies, news agency KCNA said.

Last week, KCNA also reported that Kim had inspected typhoon-hit farmlands after tropical storm Khanun swept over the Korean Peninsula.

Kim praised the military's efforts to salvage crops and said the troops were mobilised because they cannot lose a patch of farmland "to the natural rampage on the agricultural front directly related with the people's living," the report said. (Reuters)