VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia's Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has been invited by China to the 2023 China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) in Nanning City, Guangxi Province, which is scheduled to be held on September 16–19.

Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun delivered the information at the Vice Presidential Palace here on Wednesday.

"We conveyed the (information) to Mr. Vice President, as he was invited by the Chinese government to attend the China-ASEAN Expo, which will take place in Nanning city," Oratmangun said after meeting Amin.

The 20th CAEXPO exhibition is the largest exhibition in China, he added.

According to him, CAEXPO 2023 is an exhibition for ASEAN countries, and Indonesia, as the ASEAN chair this year, is eligible to participate in it.

During the meeting with the Vice President, Ambassador Oratmangun also reported on bilateral relations between Indonesia and China, which marked 10 years of comprehensive strategic partnership in 2023.

"Comprehensive strategic partnership must be seen in numbers so that we can see it (the impact) more clearly," he said.

He pointed out that China is Indonesia's largest trading partner. Based on data from China Customs, the value of trade between Indonesia and China reached US$149.2 billion in 2022, the largest worldwide.

"According to data from China, that is the biggest (figure) worldwide and a surplus for us," he said.

He pointed out that in 2018, trade between the countries was just around US$72 billion.

He further said that the realization of China's investment in Indonesia reached US$8.2 billion in 2022, while Hong Kong's investment was recorded at US$5.6 billion.

Moreover, the two countries established sociocultural cooperation in the form of student exchanges.

There were 15,700 Indonesian students in China before COVID-19, and their current number is in the range of four thousand–five thousand.

In addition, he said, China's Belt and Road Initiative supports Indonesia's global maritime axis vision.  (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has called for the strengthening of an inclusive and sustainable digital ecosystem for sharia economic and financial products and services.

"It is necessary to strengthen the development of an inclusive and sustainable digital ecosystem that is based on the values of sharia (Islamic law)," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He made these remarks at a seminar on "Strengthening the Digital Ecosystem of the Indonesian Sharia Economy" organized by the state-owned courier and logistics company PT Pos Indonesia.

He praised the synergy among stakeholders in supporting the advancement of sharia-based financial inclusion in Indonesia, including the launch of "Pospay Gold."

Pospay Gold is a digital application that allows users to trade physical gold based on sharia principles.

"The Pospay Gold innovation in PT Pos Indonesia's SuperApp adds to the list of the nation's world-class achievements and provides more options for individuals who prioritize sharia principles in their investments," he said.

Amin urged PT Pos Indonesia and the relevant stakeholders to ensure the security and privacy of digital innovations to maintain public trust.

He also called on relevant parties to promote education and enhance people's digital literacy, and to supervise policy implementation, evaluation and improvement.

Furthermore, he emphasized the importance of collaboration in developing productive and competitive digital talent.

Amin highlighted the need for more digital talents to bridge the gap between the demands of the digital industry and the availability of qualified professionals.

Meanwhile, Faizal Rochmad Djoemadi, President Director of PT Pos Indonesia, stated that the company has thrived for 276 years by continually transforming itself, including through digital transformation. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi have agreed to enhance their preferential trade agreement (PTA) to boost trade between the two countries.

"We have agreed to optimize the PTA through cooperation between the chambers of commerce in both countries," Jokowi stated in a press release.

The two leaders held a bilateral meeting at President Nyusi's office in Maputo, Republic of Mozambique, on Wednesday.

Jokowi emphasized that Mozambique is a close friend of Indonesia and the first African country to have entered into a preferential trade agreement with Indonesia.

He added that since the implementation of the Indonesia-Mozambique PTA in 2022, trade between the two nations has significantly increased by 78 percent as of June 2023.

To further promote trade cooperation, he encouraged Mozambique to open its doors to Indonesia's wood and train exports.

Jokowi expressed his commitment to strengthening development cooperation with Africa over the next five years, which will encompass various sectors such as energy, health security, agriculture, and other areas of interest to Mozambique.

During the meeting, he and President Nyusi signed several cooperation documents, including a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the control of drugs and biological products and a letter of interest on bilateral cooperation in the defense sector.

Jokowi is currently on a state visit to four African countries from August 21–24, marking his first-ever trip to the continent since taking office.

After visiting Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique, he will proceed to South Africa to attend the BRICS Summit. (Antaranews)

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, chairman of the Pacific Islands bloc, said that science supported Japan's decision to pump treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, but that the region may not agree on the "complex" issue.

Japan said on Tuesday it will start releasing into the sea more than 1 million metric tons of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Aug. 24, going ahead with a plan heavily criticised by China.

Japan has said that the water release is safe. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, greenlighted the plan in July, saying that it met international standards and that the impact it would have on people and the environment was "negligible".

The IAEA travelled to Cook Islands in July to present its findings to the Pacific Islands Forum - a regional bloc of 18 nations, whose combined exclusive economic zones span 40 million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, where half the global tuna catch is found.

"I believe that the discharge meets international safety standards," Brown said in a statement on Wednesday. He added the IAEA would continue to monitor the water during the discharge process.

Not all Pacific leaders had the same position and the Pacific Islands Forum may not reach a collective position, he said.

In a region that had suffered from the effects of nuclear weapons testing by outside powers, it was a "complex issue", he said. The United States conducted nuclear tests in the Pacific Islands in the 1940s and 1950s, and France between 1966 and 1996.

"This is a demanding situation for all of us, and we need to assess the science," he said.

A Pacific Nuclear Free Zone was established in 1985 under a treaty that prevents the dumping of radioactive materials.

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said in a speech on Monday that he supported the discharge, based on the IAEA report, and it was "fear mongering" to connect the controlled release of water over 30 years to the nuclear weapons tested in the Pacific.

The Fukushima discharge will be discussed at a meeting of the five-nation Melanesian Spearhead Group - Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia's ruling FLNKS party - on Thursday. (Reuters)