VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo, in his bid to seek reelection, has registered himself as a candidate at the General Election Commission (KPU) at 9 a.m. local time on Friday. In connection with this, he called on his supporters in Jakarta on Thursday to not join him en masse.

The Indonesian government aims to boost trade and economic cooperation with Ethiopia in a bid to target the African market for Indonesian products.

"Indonesia views Ethiopia as a market and important hub to promote our products and services," Deputy Foreign Minister A. M. Fachir told his Ethiopian counterpart Aklilu Hailemechael during a meeting in Addis Ababa.

In a bid to boost trade and economic cooperation, Fachir proposed the establishment of a joint research on the mechanism of trade, economic, and investment cooperation and explore the initial discussion on counter purchase.

A joint research is necessary as five Indonesian companies are currently investing and operating in Ethiopia: food product company PT Indofood, detergent producer PT Sinar Antjol, laundry and soap producer PT Bukit Perak, and Clothing Apparel Group and garment company PT Sumber Bintang Rejeki. In addition, the joint research is also needed for formulating a mechanism for trade transactions between both nations because there are limited constraints on hard currency in Ethiopia.

Fachir also proposed a trading scheme that could utilize the cargo airline facilities of Ethiopian Airlines, which recently opened a direct flight route connecting Jakarta to Addis Ababa. The proposal was welcomed by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Hailemechael, and both parties agreed that the initial discussion on joint research would begin in October 2018 by utilizing the 2018 Trade Expo Indonesia activities and involving the participation of Ethiopian entrepreneurs in Indonesia.

Indonesia is Ethiopia`s largest trading partner in the ASEAN region, with bilateral trade value of US$293.37 million in 2017. Ethiopia is a country, with a large domestic market and the second-largest population in Sub-Saharan Africa, reaching 102 million, and has the fastest economic growth in the world, which is close to 10 percent in 2017.

The strategic geographical location at the intersection between Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia has made Ethiopia a major partner for Indonesian trade. (ant) 

The Industry Ministry has said Indonesian industrialists and exporters should expand their export markets to forestall the impact of possible U.S. protectionism. "We have quite a lot of manufactured products exported to the United States," Secretary General of the Ministry Haris Munandar said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Exports of textiles, marine products and various other commodities could be affected if the United States slaps high tariff barrier, Haris said told Antara news agency. He said there are many potential markets open for exploitation such as Egypt and Middle East, Africa, South America, and Russia. He also called for diversification of manufactured products to be exported to meet the appetite of the global market. He said Indonesia is negotiating with the United States on bilateral trade.

Meanwhile, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said Indonesia hopes to have new trade cooperation agreements with a number of other countries to promoted exports anticipating the impact of escalation of trade war between China and the United States. "I hope to wrap up talks on cooperation agreements with Australia, Tunisia, Mozambique and Morocco," Enggartiasto said after delivering general lecture at the state-run Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java on Wednesday.

He said a Director General of the Trade Ministry is now in Japan for general review of bilateral trade between the two countries to be followed with similar meetings with the European Union and EFTA . The Minister said he was optimistic the United States Would not revoke the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) facility. Enggartiasto has discussed the GSP issue with the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Robert E Lighthizer. The United States has said it might review the GSP facility, which exempts 124 Indonesian commodities from import duty. ( ant ) 

President Joko Widodo, in his bid to seek reelection, has planned to register himself as a candidate at the General Election Commission (KPU) at 9 a.m. local time on Friday. In connection with this, he called on his supporters in Jakarta on Thursday to not join him en masse.

"Tomorrow morning, God willing, we will come to the KPU to register, and we urge the people to not come there en masse to accompany us," he remarked after meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla at the latter`s office.

"There is no need to blow it out of proportion as we are still mourning now," he noted while referring to the earthquake victims on Lombok Island.

"As we are still mourning for our brothers in West Nusa Tenggara Province, perhaps, I will go straight there after registering," he stated.

Kalla said he had planned to visit Lombok to ensure that evacuation was being conducted optimally, and the impacts of the quake had also been handled well. 

For the second term, Joko Widodo has  made a surprise move when announcing his running mate in Jakarta on Thursday because the people-at-large cannot predict it until it is publicly conveyed.  Finally, President Joko Widodo and the coalition parties supporting his efforts to grab a victory in the 2019 Presidential Election had selected Ma`ruf Amin.

Meanwhile On the same day at 11.30 pm West Indonesia Time, Prabowo Subianto, another candidate to run for President in 2019,  announced Sandiaga Uno would be his running mate to challenge the Joko Widodo-Ma`ruf Amin pair, and they would register at the General Election Commission (KPU) after the Friday prayer (Aug.10) ( ant )