VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia needs US$200 billion in investment to carry out sustainable development, according to Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

"We need $200 billion over the next 10 years to meet our investment needs in the sustainable development sector," she stated at the ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting (AFMGM) in Jakarta on Tuesday.

She emphasized that innovative and environmentally friendly development financing is important to transform the country's economy.

This has compelled the government to work diligently to utilize several financing options to support sustainable development projects, Indrawati said.

She informed that her ministry has implemented a number of programs to achieve sustainability, including offering fiscal incentives to attract investment in green projects and green industries.

The ministry has also provided incentives in the form of tax holidays and tax allowances.

She said that Indonesia is in the process of implementing regulations on carbon trading, which can serve as an instrument to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Indrawati also highlighted the importance of collaboration to increase innovation in housing and building construction to achieve energy efficiency, including limiting energy consumption while still paying attention to the need for cooling and ventilation.

She said that these steps are necessary to move toward energy-efficient housing and have been included in sustainable development projects.

"We are pleased to hear about the 1 million houses program launched by the Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Ministry with the green housing concept," she added.

Indrawati urged all stakeholders to collaborate in efforts to encourage sustainable development, for example, through a policy framework that can develop rules and instruments to realize green housing finance in Indonesia. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita has stated that the government is determined to accelerate efforts to achieve sugar self-sufficiency by 2028.

To meet the sugar needs of industries, self-sufficiency is targeted to be achieved by 2030, he said in a statement released on Tuesday.

He noted that in order to accelerate national sugar self-sufficiency, the government has prepared a roadmap.

The roadmap includes measures such as increasing sugarcane productivity to 93 tons per hectare by improving agricultural practices, adding 700 thousand hectares of sugarcane plantation area, as well as increasing the efficiency, utilization, and capacity of sugar factories to achieve a yield percentage of 11.2 percent.

In addition, it includes improving sugarcane farmers' welfare and increasing the production of bioethanol from sugarcane plants to at least 1.2 million kiloliters by 2030.

Kartasasmita said that 59 factories, including 40 owned by a state-run company, are actively producing granulated sugar from sugarcane to fulfill direct consumption in Indonesia.

"From these factories, the total national installed capacity reaches 324,350 TCD (tons of cane per day)," he added.

Meanwhile, there are 11 refined sugar factories that process raw sugar into granulated sugar to meet the raw material needs of the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries, with a total capacity of 5 million tons per year.

He noted that the national sugar need in 2023 is projected to be around 6.8 million tons per year.

"Comprising 3.4 million tons of sugar needed by households and 3.4 million tons for the food and beverage industry, it already includes the need for sugar for small and medium industries (IKM) of 400 thousand–500 thousand tons," he explained.

Kartasasmita said that, based on the results of the initial assessment, the national sugar supply from domestic cane-based sugar industries in 2023 is estimated to reach 2.7 million tons.

Thus, to boost productivity to meet the need, it is necessary to develop new sugar industries that are integrated with sugarcane plantations, he added.

Kartasasmita then lauded PT Muria Sumba Manis (MSM), which has established an integrated sugar factory in Wanga village, East Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara. The minister visited the factory on Tuesday.

He said he hoped that the production activity at the new sugar factory would help reduce imports.

"We continue to make efforts to revitalize the sugar industry in the country to be more productive and competitive. To meet the domestic need, sugar factories in the country are currently being encouraged to use modern technologies," he informed. (antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia will build concrete collaboration with Africa through a grand design of ongoing development for the next five years, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said.

He delivered the statement at a press briefing after holding a bilateral meeting with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan at Dar Es Salaam State House in Tanzania on Tuesday.

"Indonesia will walk the walk to realize concrete collaboration with Africa. Indonesia is finalizing a grand design for the development of Africa over the next five years," Jokowi said, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

He discussed a development plan aimed at revitalizing the agricultural sector in Tanzania, which included revitalizing the Morogoro Farmer's Agriculture and Rural Training Center.

As previously reported, besides the agricultural sector, Jokowi reiterated Indonesia's commitment to building health security in Tanzania by providing pharmacy products.

He said that an Indonesian pharmacy manufacturer will export its products to Tanzania for the first time.

Jokowi also expressed his intention of improving investment in the energy sector.

He said that investment in the sector is highly strategic and could strengthen cooperation between developing countries.

Jokowi also called for the establishment of a preferential trade agreement (PTA) between Indonesia and Tanzania to optimize bilateral trade.

Furthermore, he suggested the establishment of a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) to ensure the protection and continuity of investments of both countries. (Antaranews)

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Tuesday China posed a challenge to the "fundamentals of how we live together in this world" and Germany would work with mid-sized nations like Australia to de-escalate tension in the Indo-Pacific.

In a video address to an Australian foreign policy think tank, Baerbock said Australia's experience of trade bans imposed by China had influenced Germany's shift in policy towards Beijing.

"China has changed, and that's why our policy towards China also needs to change," she told the Lowy Institute.

While China was a partner on climate change, trade and investment, it was "a rival when it comes to the very fundamentals of how we live together in this world," she said.

"What we see is the emergence of a world of increasing systemic rivalry, in which some autocratic regimes seek to bend the international order to increase their spheres of influence, using not only military might but also economic clout."

Numerous countries were pivoting to China because they lacked alternatives, and Germany wanted to change this, she said.

Germany would not promote new confrontation between blocs, but would diversify its trading partners and de-risk, she said.

"We learned painfully how vulnerable our one-sided dependencies on Russian energy imports made us. We don’t want to repeat that mistake," she said.

Germany wanted to establish direct supply of rare earths and lithium mined in Australia, but the "risky detour" most Australian lithium took to be processed in China needed to be reduced, she said. "Mining and processing is geopolitical," she said.

Australia, which produces half of the world's lithium, is seeking foreign investment to establish local processing; it also blocked two Chinese investments in rare earths companies this year.

Highlighting the economic importance of the Indo Pacific to Europe, Baerbock said half of all container ships pass through the Taiwan Strait.

"Any unilateral change in the status quo across the Taiwan Strait would be unacceptable, even more so if this were to include coercive or military means," she added.

Germany participated in the 13-nation Talisman Sabre military exercises in Australia last month, and opened its first Pacific Islands embassy in Fiji on Saturday. (Reuters)