VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesia Stock Exchange's Composite Stock Price Index on Monday strengthened after the lengthy holidays of Eid al-Fitr 1440 Hijri.

The Composite Stock Price Index opened 68.18 points higher, or 1.1 percent, to 6,277.29, while the index of the 45 leading stocks, or LQ45, inched up 17.47 points, or 1.78 percent, to 1,000.35

Head of Research at Valbury Sekuritas Alfiansyah remarked here on Monday that transactions on the stock exchange after the long Eid Al-Fitr holidays ended had yet to fully normalize.

"However, the Composite Stock Price Index has a likelihood of strengthening in stock trading this week, backed by domestic factors and also positive external factors," Alfiansyah noted.

Community consumption during the month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr is expected to drive public consumption and impact prices in May and June. The Central Agency of Statistics will release inflation data for May 2019 this afternoon.

"The inflation data presented by the agency will be a 'warning' for the government in adopting price-control measures," Alfiansyah remarked.

Externally, trade disputes have raised worries over protracted battles and potentially hinder global economic growth. US President Donald Trump remarked that talks with China were going well, though a senior Chinese diplomat was quick to counter his statement by affirming that provocations in trade disputes were open economic terrorism.

"The ambiguity surrounding the trade war has rocked global investors," Alfiansyah pointed out.

Among the Asian regional stock exchanges this morning, the Nikkei index strengthened 207.31 points, or 0.99 percent, to 21,092.02; the Hang Seng index increased 406.48 points, or 1.51 percent, to 27,371.76; and the Straits Times index declined 22.1 points, 0.7 percent, to 3,188.39. (ant) 

The Indonesian coffee booth is again a magnet at the international coffee exhibition or World of Coffee 2019 held in Berlin, Germany, from June 6 to 8, 2019.

On the first day of the event, the Indonesian booth which was one of those from 24 countries that participated in the exhibition was crowded by visitors, said an Indonesian diplomat in charge of information and socio-cutural affairs at the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin, Hannan Hadi, to Antara in Jakarta on Sunday.

The Indonesian coffee was not only introduced by giving product samples but also offering visitors and coffee lovers to enjoy the aroma and coffee from the archipelago.

The Indonesian Deputy of Mission to Germany, Perry Pada, said he was optimistic that this exhibition would sharpen the competitive edge of the Indonesian coffee on the international market. "From the comments and responses of the visitors to the Indonesian booth, we believe that the number of people who are interested in the Indonesian coffee will increase.. "I even observed that there were several transactions and negotiations that had been discussed with the visiting buyers," Perry said.

The high interest and demand for the Indonesian coffee offer both an opportunity and a challenge. The challenge is how to meet the demand and maintain its quality, he said.

"Domestic demand is also high. We see more Indonesian baristas now. Both domestic consumption and demand for exports are equally important. For this reason, we need to keep encouraging coffee farmers and entrepreneurs," said Perry.

In the exhibition, Indonesia introduced the advantages of Indonesian coffee, especially Arabica coffee. Coffee producing companies Rumah Kayu, and Crop and Roast brought two coffee producers, namely the Indonesian Coffee Farmers Association (APEKI) from Bandung, West Java, and Aurelia Da’Gabo Flores from East Nusa Tenggara..

However, the coffee introduced at the coffee exhibition was not only from Bandung and Flores, but also from Toraja (South Sulawsei) and East Java. Besides the original taste, there are also floral flavors, fruity, caramel, and blueberries.

Chairperson of APEKI's West Bandung chapter, Kurnia Danumiharja who led the Indonesian participants was delighted by the big number of visitors to the Indonesian coffee booth. It turned out that our coffee has a unique character, not only in terms of the taste but also the aroma. The diverse characters of coffee are influenced by the characters of Indonesia's soils that are rich and different, Kurnia said.

World of Coffee 2019 in Berlin brought together more than 300 exhibitors and was attended by around 10,000 visitors. Besides Indonesia, various coffee-producing countries such as Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Japan and China also participated in the exhibition.

In this event, visitors can chat with coffee experts about the taste of coffee and experience, expertise and motivation for processing and developing the coffee business. World of Coffee was previously held in various major cities in Europe, including Amsterdam, Budapest, Dublin, Rimini, and Maastricht.

In the past six years, the organization of World of Coffee has developed into the largest coffee exhibition in Europe. Initially attended by 3,000 visitors, followed by around 45 exhibitors, today the number has increased rapidly to 11,000 visitors, followed by more than 200 participants.

Various activities of World of Coffee are also enlivened with various interactive activities, such as world coffee championships, cupping coffee, seminars and business meetings. (ant) 

Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said the Group of Twenty (G20) forum is making every effort to ease trade war tensions that have the potential to disrupt the performance of global trade.

"We hope for the de-escalation of trade war tensions," he said on the sidelines of the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Digital Trade and Economy held in Tsukuba, Japan, on Sunday.

The effort is necessary to prevent the global trade growth from declining further as projected by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The WTO has projected the global trade will only grow 2.6 percent this year compared to 4.0 percent in 2017 and 3.6 percent in 2018.

The three Indonesian players made it to the final of the Australia Open 2019 Super 300. The first player to qualify was a mixed double Praveen Jordan / Melati Daeva Oktavianti, followed by two men's singles, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Jonatan Christie.

Praveen Jordan / Melati Daeva Oktavianti made a surprise by defeating second seeded Japanese, Yuta Watanabe / Arisa Higashino, with a score of 21-13, 12-21, 21-17. Even though Watanabe / Higashino is more favored, Praveen / Melati has never been subdued in the hands of the 2018 All England Champion. In the 2018 Malaysia Masters, Praveen / Melati also won two straight games, 25-23, 21-16.

"We've met them before, they played a lot of long drives, so we avoid playing like this because this is their superiority. We try a lot to beat opponents from the front game, so we get plenty of opportunities to attack," Melati told Badmintonindonesia .org.

"Most importantly, the key is to trust partners and keep on communicating in the field. We also know where their weaknesses are, so we continue to search there and this makes us able to defeat them today," Melati added.

Praveen / Melati will meet first seed in the final round, namely Wang Yilyu / Huang Dongping from China.

"In the final round, surely the opponents who face more than the semifinals. Wang / Huang plays neatly, they are strong and rarely make their own mistakes. The important thing is from our appearance, playing as much as possible and all out, we have met them several times. We will try to enjoy the game, "said Melati.

Indonesia has secured one title in the men's singles. Anthony first advanced to the top game after winning a straight game over Wang Tzu Wei (Taiwan), with a score of 21-17, 21-14. Jonatan ensured that the men's singles title fell into Indonesian hands after stopping Chou Tien Chen (Taiwan) resistance, after fighting three games with a score of 22-20, 13-21, 21-16. This victory at the same time avenged his defeat of Chou in the 2019 Sudirman Cup. (badminton Indonesia)