VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Embassies of French-speaking or francophone countries in Indonesia opened the 2024 Francophone Week activities on Monday, March 18 at the Institut français Indonésie (IFI) Jakarta. The Moroccan Ambassador, the Canadian Ambassador's Charge de'affair, the Swiss Ambassador, and the French Ambassador to Indonesia were present at the opening of the annual event. The opening of Frankoponi Week 2024 was also enlivened by the performance of the UI Chorale CLE-C choir group and the Rangkai music group.

In his remarks, the Moroccan Ambassador to Indonesia, Ouadia Benabdellah, who this year was appointed President of the Group of Ambassadors of Francophone Countries in Indonesia, said that the Francophone has become a symbol of tolerance and bonds of solidarity between nations. “Francophonie is more than just a shared language. This embodies the values of solidarity, dialogue, and cooperation between people, whatever their origins and backgrounds. It is a symbol of tolerance, dialogue, and mutual respect, representing a bridge between continents, an unshakable bond that transcends borders and differences” Ouadia Benabdellah said upon his address.

The Francophonie Week in Indonesia took place from 18-23 March 2024 in eight cities, namely Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Bali, Makassar, Medan and Semarang. The week's series of activities includes music performances, film screenings, Marionette performances, painting exhibitions, seminars/workshops, bazaars, and various French language competitions.

Internationally, Francophonie Day or World French Speakers Day is observed every March 20 as a celebration of the use of French in 54 countries and various organizations including the UN which unites around 321 million speakers and is part of the International Francophonie Organization. (Daniel)

VOInews, Jakarta: Indonesian Ambassador to Namibia Wisnu Edi Pratignyo expressed the need for training support to increase the optimization of natural resource processing in Namibia. Wisnu gave an example that by increasing such training, the people of Namibia can create marketable products to improve the country's economy.

"For example, they have clay, but they can't make full use of it. They only know how to make bricks. Even though they can make various kinds of products. They have gemstones. (in making use of those raw materials) they need trained personnel. "How to process the stones into more valuable products and so on. So overall that is what the Indonesian Embassy is doing to assist (to provide training)," said Wisnu Edi to Voice of Indonesia (01/03).

Wisnu said that Namibia has oil and gas wealth but still lacks skilled workers. He took the initiative through the Owned Business Entity to provide training to several workers from Namibia.

"Namibia has oil and gas, now we are in the final stage of exploration. Namely, we are providing skill training to several Namibian workers to be trained by Pertamina in Indonesia, at the Training Center, in Cirebon for drilling. Based on the plan, it will start on April 1 this year for several months," said Vishnu Edi Pratignyo.

Previously, Wisnu revealed that Indonesia has provided training in the fisheries and marine sector in 2023.

"In 2023, we also provided training to one of the educational institutions here, namely fisheries and marine education, which was sponsored by the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation, quite a large value of USD 256,000, that was also in the form of training. So in my opinion, Namibia still really needs training "what we can supply, what we can give to them, this is very important," he explained.

Namibia is one of sixteen countries on the African continent in which the Indonesian representative office is based. Indonesia-Namibia diplomatic relations have been established since May 13, 1991, a year after the independence of the former German colony. Namibia has abundant natural and mineral resources but they have not been exploited optimally. (VOI/Daniel)

VOInews, Jakarta: Deputy Head of the Indonesian Representative Office in Vienna, Akio Alfiano Tamala, is optimistic that Indonesia-Austria relations are becoming stronger considering the seventy years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"Regarding how the two countries relation is developed, especially in the context of these 70 years, I am optimistic that relations between Indonesia and Austria in the future will be closer, increasingly improving, and both countries can certainly benefit from this good relationship," said Akio Alfiano to Voice of Indonesia, Tuesday (5/3) in Jakarta.

Akio believes that diplomatic relations between the two countries are getting stronger due to various factors such as the similarity of the Non-Aligned principles adhered to by both countries.

"I think there are actually three capitals that we can use as opportunities to improve relations, especially politically, as stated earlier, the two countries shared similarities, neutrality so that they can both stand in the same position, to discuss, to sit down and talk about world problems will also be more convenient because they have same principles," he said.

Apart from that, Akio assessed that the interest of the Indonesian-Austrian people in getting to know each other's culture is also an asset for improving bilateral relations.

"(Besides) people-to-people contact (between the people of the two countries), they also intensively promote music, through classical music of course in Indonesia," continued Akio.

"And then the last thing is that we hope that with (the optimization of) this port, economically our relations with Austria will further improve our trade relations with Austria," said Akio Alfiano.

Akio Alfiano Tamala outlined the prospects for cooperation between Indonesia and Austria, including in the fields of environmental technology, law and tourism.

"They have a waste processing building in the middle of the city that is odorless, clean, and the building is even unique, (the design of a building) made unique so that it attracts tourists to take photos. "These may also be things we can explore to develop cooperation," he said.

In addition, according to Akio Alfiano Tamala, cooperation in the legal sector can be carried out considering that Austria is a pioneer in constitutional law in the world. In the tourism sector, Indonesia and Austria are world-class tourist destinations with their characteristics. It is recorded that approximately 40 million total tourists visit Austria every year.

"And I think maybe Indonesia can exchange ideas, can discuss with Austria how to improve tourism, tourism management, the tourism industry, including promotion, because we know, for example, here in Austria there is something called the city of Hallstatt for example, which was promoted as filming location for the film Frozen," he said. (VOI/Daniel)