VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita signed a Joint Ministerial Statement with Minister of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Tatyana D. Valovaya in Jakarta on last Thursday (2/14). This is the stage towards the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) later this year between Indonesia and five Eurasian countries, namely Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Minister Enggartiasto Lukita after the signing as reported  by Antara News Agency said that economic cooperation with Eurasia cannot directly lead to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) scheme, because they have certain  procedure and standard so that the MoC becomes an agreed matter. He is optimistic that with the MoC, the value of trade between Indonesia and Eurasia, which currently reaches $2.79 billion dollars, will double in  less than five years. He hoped that the signing of the MoC and a business forum could be held in the second quarter of this year. After the signing of the MoC, information will be exchanged to get to know each other's products and markets more deeply in a meeting between businesspeople of both countries. According to Minister Enggartiasto, Eurasia has a large potential market for Indonesia. The Indonesian flagship products to Eurasia are Crude Palm Oil (CPO), coffee, rubber,  food products, and furniture. Meanwhile, products from Eurasia imported by Indonesia are aluminum, alloy, and fertilizer. Minister Enggartiasto Lukita explained, basically Indonesian and  Eurasia products complement each other. They have advance technology for several things. But, they also need some raw materials as basic needs. He also pointed out that crude palm oil (CPO) is a commodity that has great potential to be exported to Euroasia, especially Russia. Through the MoC, Indonesian domestic industries can directly  send their products to five Eurosian Economic Community -EEC countries through a single process. So, this really opens the door of Indonesia to increase trade transactions. Meanwhile, Minister of Integration and Macro-economics of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Tatyana D Valovaya said that Eurasia hoped that an increase in economic cooperation could be achieved this year. Valovaya also explained, this meeting was also a follow-up to the previous one which  took place in December 2017. She  said that so far, Euroasia had sent a number of products to Indonesia, such as food. In the future, she hopes to be able to fill products that have not been found in the Indonesian market, such as machinery and equipment.

The second debate on the Presidential Candidates who will compete in the upcoming Presidential and Vice President Elections on April 17, 2019 is over. Unlike the first debate which took place on January 17, the second one that took place at the Sultan Hotel in Jakarta on Sunday night (17/2/2019) only presented presidential candidates: number 01, Joko Widodo and presidential candidate number 02, Prabowo Subianto. In addition, the General Election Commission (KPU) as the organizer of the election and the debate over the presidential candidates did not provide a list of questions to the two presidential candidates. The second debate began with the delivery of the vision and mission of the two presidential candidates. Then, the two candidates were asked to take lottery questions about the set themes: energy, food, infrastructure, environment and natural resources. In the question about food, Prabowo promised to guarantee food availability at affordable prices. In addition, he also promised to reduce electricity prices and prices of staple foods and promised to prepare the fertilizer needed by farmers. Meanwhile, presidential candidate Joko Widodo emphasized the importance of infrastructure for the future of Indonesia so that he will be consistent in continuing to build infrastructure if he is re-elected as president of the 2019-2024 period. In addition to answering questions prepared by 8 panelists consisting of academics, the presidential candidates also asked questions that were answered by the arguments of each presidential candidate. The atmosphere of the presidential candidate's debate seemed different than the first one. The two presidential candidates were able to refrain from attacking each other, so as not to create tension between the presidential candidates and the supporters of the two presidential candidates. There is still one more debate, namely on March 17 between 2 vice-presidential candidates: Ma'ruf Amin and Sandiaga Uno. The KPU has set the theme of the 3rd debate, namely Education, Health, Employment, and Social and Cultural matters. Hopefully, the 3rd debate will also run smoothly, safely and conducively until the General Election takes place on April 17, 2019.

Banyuwangi is one of regions in Indonesia which has a lot of tourism destinations. Sunset can bea choice if you are relaxing at the beach. It is not a must but Wedi Ireng beach has white and black sand. At the beach, you can also swim, snorkeling, and take a picture or just take a sit to enjoy sunrise or sunset.Wedi Ireng beach is located at Pancer hamlet, Sumberagung village, Pesanggaran, Banyuwangi. The beach is about 65 KMs to the South of Banyuwangi city. After 3-4 hours travel from Banyuwangi city, you will arrive at mustika beach. Thus, you continue your trip by walking through the hill for 20 minutes to reach Wedi Ireng beach. If you do not want to pass challenging route to get to the location, you can use sea line which is certainly easier and faster. You can go to Pancer hamlet, and rent fisherman’s boat. You only need to pay Rp 40,000 to go and return and around Rp 25,000 for one trip. By using sea line, it takes only 30 minutes. The location Wedi Ireng beach is quite remote, even access to go to this tourism object is quite challenging. But, enchanment of the beach will not make you regret to fight to the place. The beauty of the beach is like other beaches, even the beach has long beach line. Its clear blue sea water combining with white and black sand is as if neatly arrange as special design of Wedi Ireng beach. In addition, coarse layers of stone and brown sand and also white sand become the characteristic of this beach. The name of the beach is taken from Javanese language. Wedi means sand and Ireng means black, although all of its sand is not black. So, set your time to take holiday at Wedi Ireng beach in Banyuwangi, East Java province.

Indonesian House of Representatives Commission I,encouragedthe Indonesian Embassy in Amman, Jordan, to keep sounding support for the struggle of Palestian people to gain independent. This was stated by the delegation of commission I during a working visit to Jordan for two days, on Feruary 7-8, 2019, led by Head of Commission I, Abdul Kharis Almashari, as quoted in a press release of the Indonesian Embassy in Amman which was recieved in Jakarta, on Monday (11/2). The Indonesian Ambassador to Jordan and Palestine, Andy Rachmianto asserted that Indonesian suppport on Palestine never decrease, even it keeps strenthening, especially in the UN Forum, since Indonesia becomes non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2019-2020 period.

Indonesian main weapon system products have potential at weapon industrial market in Egypt and other countries in African regions, since their quality have been world class. Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt, Helmy Fauzi, in a press release in Denpasar, Bali, on Sunday (10/2) said that the quality of the Indonesian weapon products have been used in many countries and also have competitive price so that the products are able to compete with other producers. Helmy Fauzi also said that the Indonesian Military’s Headquarter has conducted exploration of Indonesia-Egypt defense cooperation. The cooperation was signed during the working visit of the Head of Strategic Intelligence Agency (Bais),Rear Admiral Kisenda Wiranata Kusuma to Egypt on February 6-8, 2019. In the event, Kisenda conducted a number of meetings including with officials of Military Intelligence Directorate (MID) of Egypt.

Indonesia grabbed all the medals in Iran Fajr Badminton International Challenge 2019. The Indonesian anthem, Indonesia Raya echoed twice to mark the victory of women’s double, Nita Violina Marwah/Putri Syaikah and men’s double, Adnan Maulana/Ghifari Anandaffa Prihardika in the final of the 28th Iran Fajr Badminton International Challenge 2019  at Enghelab Sport Complex, Karaj, Iran (7/2). Indonesian Ambassador to Iran, Octavino Alimudin, along with the Indonesian Embassy’s big families in Tehran and a number of Indonesian diaspora in Iran, also attended the competition and gave support to Indonesian contingent that consisted of 22 badminton players and 3 officials. The young players of national training center who were sent by Indonesian Badminton Association to the tournament showed that Indonesian young badminton players are worthy to defend Indonesia.