VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi are scheduled to attend the 32nd ASEAN Summit in Singapore. A series of meetings of the ASEAN Summit will last for four days.

“We would like to convey the plan of the activities of Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs and also the President who are scheduled to attend the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and the ASEAN Summit in Singapore. ASEAN Ministerial Meeting itself will be held on 26-27 April and afterwards, it will be continued with ASEAN Summit on 27-28 April,” said Spokesman of Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Arrmanatha Nasir in a press conference held in Jakarta on Friday (April 20^th).

Arrmanatha Nasir added that Singapore as the host of the 32nd ASEAN Summit and ASEAN leaders in 2018 will specifically raise the theme "Building Resilient and Innovative ASEAN". There are some things that will be of interest to Indonesia at the 32nd ASEAN Summit, such as cyber security cooperation and government efforts to push the framework of ASEAN to advance ASEAN Smart City Network. Then, the 32nd ASEAN Summit is also expected to produce some key documents, such as ASEAN Leaders Vision for Resilient and Innovative ASEAN, and ASEAN Leaders Statement on Cyber Security Cooperation. (VOI/Rezha/RHM)

Rural development becomes one of the national priorities as listed in the nine-priority development program-Nawacita. To support the national development program, the Central Bureau of Statistics –BPS will conduct a Data Collection on villages’ potential –Podes from 2nd to 31^st of May 2018. Podes is a data collection on infrastructure, social and economic potentials owned by each village / sub-district, and district /city throughout Indonesia. Head of the Central Bureau of Statistics, Kecuk Suharyanto said that Podes is aimed at creating data of villages’ potential, village typology, updated source data of working area of ​​statistical data and basic information for the Population Census 2020. On the socialization of Podes 2018 in Jakarta on Thursday (April 19), Kecuk explained that the data collection can measure the effectiveness of village fund policies which have been conducted by the government since 2015.

“We cover all villages and sub-districts. We visit almost 82 thousands one on one. From there, we can see how many villages are shifted, left behind or developed and then become independent. The second, we will later make a model how the impact of village funds is towards economic growth and the quality of human life. Because if we talk about development targets and development funds, it's not just economic aspect. The quality of human life is important,” Kecuk Suharyanto said.

Suhariyanto further said the villages’ potential -Podes will be used as a reference for changes in urban and rural classification. Podes data plays a major role in the allocation of village funds, as the basic data of village development evaluation. Based on BPS data related to Podes, Ministries and Agencies can also develop geographic difficulties indexes that are important indicators in allocating village funds. The government is very serious to deal with rural and suburban development by disbursing a lot of village funds. From this Podes data, village development index can also be carried out and it divides the villages into independent, developing and disadvantaged villages. The government is targeting 5,000 disadvantaged villages to become developing villages and 2,000 developing villages to become independent ones. (VOI/SEKAR/RHM)

Three Ambassadors from United States Coalition states, US Ambassador to Indonesia, Joseph Donovan, British Ambassador to Indonesia, Moazzam Malik and French Ambassador to Indonesia, Jean-Charles Berthonnet in particular held a meeting with Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi in Jakarta on Thursday (April 19^th). In the meeting, she reiterated the position of Indonesia related to the chaotic use of chemical weapons in Syria. In addition, she also said to them that Indonesia asks all parties to exercise restraint so that the situation in Syria is not getting worse. This was affirmed by Indonesian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Arrmanatha Nasir in a press conference in Jakarta on Friday (April 20).

“In essence yesterday, there were three ambassadors from the United States, Britain and France, who met the Foreign Minister. At the meeting, basically they disclosed their position. The Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated the position of Indonesia. First, we are certainly concerned about the developments that exist in Syria. The second, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated that we are strongly condemning the use of chemical weapons by anyone. The third one also says that we ask for all parties to exercise restraint and to pay attention to the humanitarian aspect, especially for women and children to be a priority,” Armanatha said.

Arrmanatha Nasir added that in a meeting with the three ambassadors of the US coalition countries, Minister Retno Marsudi also again conveyed a message to all parties to respect the value and international law, in particular the United Nations charter on international peace and security. In relation to the thousands of Indonesian citizens who are still in Syria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs keeps monitoring how the current condition is in the region. In addition, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also prepared a contingency plan if the situation is worsening. (VOI/Rezha/RHM)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is optimistic that Indonesian automotive exports can increase. The optimism came after President Joko Widodo witnessed the rapid development of Indonesia's automotive industry followed by increasing exports to neighboring countries. After opening the Indonesia International Motor Show at the Jakarta International Expo (JIEXPO), Kemayoran in North Jakarta on Thursday (March 20^th), President Joko Widodo said that the Indonesian automotive industry has a great opportunity to expand its market if the price offered is competitive. 

“First, we see the automotive industry in our country is growing very rapidly. First, I am glad that our exports increase, especially to our neighboring countries. But we see later if the price is competitive, I think the export of our automotive industry will be able to get out of ASEAN. And secondly, exports for the knot-down components also increased very sharply, increasing 13 times. It will also open up a lot of employment,” President Joko Widodo says.

On the same occasion, President Joko Widodo also said that the Industrial Revolution 4.0 will grow the automotive industry in Indonesia. He predicts that the transition of technology from the previous industry era to industry 4.0 will open up new opportunities such as the incredible online taxi service both motorcycle and car. However, automotive industry is required to understand, prepare, and follow the existing changes. One of them is to prepare for different types of work; one of which is a periodic maintenance service for vehicles that are used for the purpose of online taxi service. Such periodic maintenance services will be needed because they must serve their customers 24 hours per day. (VOI/Rezha/RHM)