VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Minister of Public Works and Public Housing, Basuki Hadimuljono in visit to South Korea representing Indonesia in the 1st ASEAN-Republic of Korea Infrastructure Ministers ' Meeting at COEX InterContinental Seoul, Monday (17/9/2018) with ASEAN Ministers of infrastructure

In a bilateral meeting between Minister  Basuki and Minister of Land, infrastructure, and transportation of Korea Kim Hyun-Mee. They discussed cooperation on progress of the Karian dam project, channels raw water bearer Karian-Serpong, and Bridge Maintenance and management

Minister Basuki invite the Governments of Korea for support programs to revitalize and normalize the Ciliwung River. This idea was revealed when President Jokowi visit the Chonggyechon River, one of the elements essential for public spaces in Seoul (pupr)

Progress of the construction project of Kunciran toll road – package I Kunciran-Serpong Parigi (6.72 km) undertaken by PT. Waskita Karya (Persero) Tbk sdh reached 63.4% and progress package II Parigi-Serpong (4.42 km) worked by the PT Adhi karya and Acset. (KSO) sdh reach 71.82%. These are under Jakarta Outer Ring Road 2 Projects from Jakarta Airport in the west side to Jakarta Port in the east side along 110 km.

Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu and his Singaporean counterpart, Ng Eng Hen, held another bilateral talks to discuss enhanced counter-terrorism cooperation at the Singaporean Defense Ministry on Monday. In his a press statement released on Monday, Ryacudu underscored the importance of more integrated and transparent counter-terrorism cooperation between the two nations,

The two defense ministers also discussed a planned meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesian President Joko Widodo in the Indonesian resort island of Bali to discuss progress achieved in defense cooperation including the concept of planned intelligence cooperation.

Both Ryacudu and Ng Eng Hen also agreed that the joint statement "Our Eyes" will lay a regional platform for the exchange of intelligence information started from ASEAN.  Six ASEAN member states, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand have agreed to "Our Eyes" joint statement which serves as a commitment to promote peace, security stability and welfare in the Southeast Asian region.

It will later be developed to cover ASEAN partners including non-ASEAN partners and that it will focus on effective intelligence information exchange mechanism to paralyze the strongholds of terrorism.

Without ruling out the development of strategic environment, Ng Eng Hen stated Singapore is prepared to join trilateral forum involving Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia to conduct a joint exercise in the Philippine waters. After they hold exercise in their own country, they will later conduct joint exercises in Tarakan and later in Tawi-Tawi.

Ryacudu believed Singapore`s participation will have a positive impact on the mechanism of the longstanding cooperation between the three countries.

"With this, we hope we could conduct integrated transnational operations in various forms of operations in the context of maritime, air and land networks," he said.

By sticking to the principles of counter-terrorism, the two defense ministers also agreed that the threat of ISIS group must be responded by keeping abreast of the growing phenomenon of the threat. (ant)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said Indonesia`s export growth in August 2018 was recorded at 4.15 percent compared to that of August 2017 (year-on-year / yoy) and it could still be increased.

"In terms of exports, its growth is close to 5 percent for year-on-year, but in my opinion, the growth can be increased," Sri Mulyani said in Jakarta on Monday.

Indonesia`s exports in August 2018 stood at $15.82 billion, down by 2.90 percent as compared to the previous month. However, the exports in August 2018 rose by 4.15 percent as compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, the imports in August 2018 got tumbled by $1.457 billion, or 7.97 percent, to $16.839 billion as compared to the previous month. Sri Mulyani said she continued monitoring developments related to the balance of payments, especially the current account deficit.

According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia recorded a trade deficit of US$1.02 billion in August 2018, down from $2.01 billion a month earlier. The deficit was mainly driven by a deficit of $1.66 billion in the oil and gas sector though the non-oil/non-gas sector enjoyed a surplus of $0.64 billion, BPS Chief Kecuk Suhariyanto earlier noted while divulging information on the developments of the country`s exports and imports in July 2018 at the BPS office.

Indonesia had recorded a trade surplus of $1.74 billion in June 2018, with exports rising 11.47 percent to $13 billion, and imports growing 12.68 percent to $11.26 billion, according to the BPS. The figure surpassed Bank Indonesia`s trade surplus forecast of close to $1 billion. June 2018`s surplus overturned a trade deficit of $1.45 billion a month earlier. (ant)