VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Public Works and People's Housing (PUPR) is currently preparing an scheme for the construction of the Batam-Bintan Bridge, Riau Islands (Kepri) as directed by President Joko Widodo. PUPR Minister, Basuki Hadimuljono said the bridge with more than 7 kilometers long is worth 4 trillion rupiah. He said that there is a big investment potential. MInister Basuki Hadimuljono in Batam, Friday (2/3) said that Chinese investors are interested in the project. According to him, the Batam-Bintan Bridge can be run with ‘Government with Business Entity (KPBU)’ cooperation scheme, so as to involve the government and the private sector. With the majority of private handling, the bridge will be converted into high-tariff toll roads. He cited as an example 'the Surabaya Madura (Suramadu) bridge'. Because it was built with the State Budget – APBN, the toll tariff is not high. However, until now the Ministry is still reviewing the best scheme which most benefits to all parties in the Batam-Bintan bridge project. On that occasion, MInister Basuki emphasized the need for regional development in Bintan. There must be synergy of the region's development in the form of tourism area, special economic zone and many more.

The City Government of Cirebon, West Java plans to include the cultural Cap Go Meh Carnival in their annual tourism calendar in the hope of being developed into a world class event. (Pjs) Temporary Mayor of Cirebon Dedi Taufik, in Cirebon, Friday said he wanted this cultural carnival to go up the rank of world class tourism event. He even said Cap Go Meh Culture in Cirebon City is the pride of the region, therefore the community and other related parties should guard it for cultural preservation, even cultural expansion. Meanwhile Head of Cirebon Culture Department of Tourism and Sports Eddy Tohidi said the Cap Go Meh cultural carnival needs to be developed as a conservation effort and promises to create an annual tourism calendar and incorporate the Cap Go Meh carnival as one of the events.

North Sumatera Governor HT Erry Nuradi, promotes Lake Toba, a lake that exist due to the largest volcano eruption in Asia, in Hungary's largest tourism fair, Utazas 2018 It took place in the Hungexpo building in Budapest, the Hungarian Capital from 1st to 4th March 2018. The governor also invited visitors of the Utazas tourism exhibition 2018 to the famous island of Nias with sea tourism and traditional stone jumping which is as high as nearly two meters. Cultural and Social Affairs of the Indonesian Embassy in Budapest in a statement received by Antara London, Saturday said, the natural tourism exhibition is routinely followed by the Embassy in Budapest from year to year.This time the pavilion theme is Enchanting Sumatera. According to the Governor, North Sumatra is very close from Singapore and with the existence of two new airports namely Kualanamu and Silangit Foreign tourist can easily visit any time to North Sumatra Province. The promotional activity of Lake Toba is conducted in Utazas 2018 which is the largest tourism exhibition in Hungary followed by 250 exhibitors. The pavilion is filled with representatives from various countries displaying various potential and travel agents selling tourist packages. In 2018, the Indonesian pavilion displayed seven tour operators, industrial products and commodities along with samples that can be enjoyed by visitors, entertainment in the form of dance from the archipelago and regional clothes. The decoration of the pavilions is themed Enchanting Sumatera.

The first information comes from Karachi, Pakistan. Film as an art and culture is part of Indonesia’s soft power diplomacy conducted for the national interest and it strengthens its role in the world. The participation of Indonesia in Karachi Film Festival, in addition to confirming that Indonesia is a country of peace and appreciating various religions, ethnicities and cultural diversity, is a promotional means to improve Indonesia's image in Pakistan.To strengthen the soft power diplomacy, Indonesia participated in the Asia Peace Film Festival (APFF) held at Karachi Expo Center, Karachi, Pakistan, 23 - 26 February 2018. The theme of this film festival is "Celebrating diversity and harnessing harmony by promoting cinematography as a mass medium of peace education in the Asian region". While the vision is making film as a medium of intercultural, recursive, reconciliation, conflict mediation and peace building in Asia. The festival is part of a program held in Islamabad on 18-20 September 2017. Indonesia's participation in this Film Festival was a collaboration between the Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad and the Consulate General in Karachi. During the festival, various movies were screened, including short film genre (with 3-30 minutes duration), documenter film (3-30 minutes), and animation film (maximum 30 minutes duration). Indonesia presented four documentary films at the Karachi Film Festival namely, "Karatagan Ciremai", "Identity", Innner Peace "and" Save our Forest Giants". Meanwhile, the representatives of Indonesia cineas who attended the event were Sofie Setyorini (Curaor), Harvan Agustriansyah (Documentary filmmaker and director) and Antonius Tonny Trimarsanto (Documentary filmmaker).

The Indonesian Embassy in Paris once again participated in the 22nd Tour Salon International du Tourisme (SIT) de Rennes which took place on 16-18 February 2018 at Parc Expo Rennes. The exhibition was followed by more than 400 participants from various tourism sectors, including tour operators / travel agencies, hotels / villas / camping, tour vehicle rentals, playground / historical tours, to airlines / shipping. In addition to Indonesia, a number of countries such as Canada, Vietnam, India, Iran, Tanzania, and the Dominican Republic, as well as players of the French national tourism industry were also present.  Based on data from the Office de Justification des Statistique, the exhibition was visited by almost 39,000 visitors.The Indonesia stand presented two potentials of the country, namely, tourism and handicraft products by Indonesian SMEs. The Promotion of tourism also involved tour operators from Francewhich sell tour packages to Indonesia during the exhibition. Visitors could get information on tourist destinations in Indonesia through interactive touch screen media, videos, brochures, and flyers on 100 art and cultural festival agenda in 2018 (100 Wonderful Indonesia). During the event, a presentation on Indonesian tourism destinations was also held before tothe visitors. In addition, Indonesia enlivened the event on the main stage by presenting Peacock Dance from West Java as well as traditional Indonesian songs by Indonesian students in Rennes. On the sidelines of this Rennes SIT activity, the Embassy of Indonesia also conducted Indonesian community development in France. For that reason, on February 17, 2018, a meeting of Indonesian Ambassador with the Indonesian community and students of the Association of Indonesian Students (PPI) in Rennes was held. On the occasion, the Ambassador delivered the Government development program to improve people's welfare. The Ambassador also advised the students to have a clear and focused vision and mission so that their education in France can be useful for the people and the nation of Indonesia.

Good news is coming from Belgium. A Researcher from Indonesia, dr. Arief Wibowo, received an award from King Baudouin Foundation, in Brussels, Wednesday (28/2). King Baudouin Foundation is a foundation under the supervision of the Queen of Belgium. Dr. Arief Wibowo received the prestigious "King Baudouin Award" in cardiovascular field and became the only Indonesian to receive this award. The awarding itself was made in the framework of the Rare Disease Day Commemoration that falls on February 28, 2018.The Researh of dr. Arief Wibowo is on "Neovascularization Potential Exosomes Derived from Blood Outgrowth Endothelial Cells in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy" or Potential Exosomes therapy in patients with Ischemic heart failure. This research is his specialty since taking doctoral program in Cardiovascular Research Department at Katolieke Universite Leuven (KUL) starting from July 1, 2014. Through this research, dr. Arief hoped to help more and more people to handle heart disease that currently requires cutting-edge treatment techniques.This achievement is also appreciated by Indonesian people in Belgium. Located at the Embassy of Brussels, a simple thanksgiving event was held for dr. Arief. The Indonesian Ambassador to Belgium, Yuri O. Thamrin and the the Indonesian embassy congratulated Dr Arief and expressed their pride in his contribution in scientific field and the name of Indonesia in Belgium. His research was conducted in 2 places, namely UD Leuven Hospital and OLV Aalst Hospital Cardiovascular Department. For this research, dr. Arief received 2 awards, the Paul Dudley White Award from the International Science Team Award America and the King Boudwijnstichting Award from the Foundation under the Kingdom of Belgium.The King Baudouin Foundation provided funding of 166,000 Euro per year to the the doctor for 2 years. The funding is planned to be used for further research collaborations between the Heart Research Department, Hassan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung, Indonesia and the hospitals in Belgium where he is conducting his current research.

Coffee is one of the leading commodities of plantation products in Indonesia. Besides being consumed by the domestic community, most of Indonesia's coffee is marketed to various countries. Indonesia's geographical condition with different soil fertility in each region produces different and unique coffee taste. Luwak Coffee, Gayo Coffee, and Toraja Coffee are a few among Indonesian coffee that is well known in foreign countries. To further popularize coffee and promote the coffee industry, the Indonesian Coffee Council (Dekopi) is established. The formation of Dekopi was initiated by former Minister of Agriculture for the period 2004-2009, Anton Apriantono. The management of the Central Executive Council (DPP) of Dekopi will be announced on March 11, 2018 to coincide with the Nusantara Coffee Exhibition and Expo at Intermark Convention Hall, Serpong, Banten. to Anton Apriantono, the national coffee problem needs to get attention from various parties, because coffee is a superior commodity. He hoped Dekopi can spur the Indonesian coffee, which is restoring and enhancing the glory of the archipelago coffee. According to Anton, currently Indonesia's coffee production is still below Brazil and Vietnam. Therefore, Dekopi will provide input to the government or stakeholders to promote the national coffee. As a first step, there is a coffee exhibition with the theme of Kopi Nusantara –Coffee of the Archipelago on 9-11 March 2018, in Serpong., Banten province. The exhibition aims to let people know more about Indonesian coffee that is well known in a number of countries. Besides, this exhibition is also expected to increase public appreciation of the Indonesian coffee products. Later, it will be proposed that March 11 to be the National Coffee Day as well as a marker of the rise of Indonesian coffee. Meanwhile, Jamil Musanif, Secretary General of Dekopi, said that the level of coffee consumption in Indonesia is still low compared to other countries. Indonesian coffee consumption is around 4 kilo grams per year. While in Japan and European countries the consumption reaches 5 kilo grams per year. There are even countries that consume 11 kilo grams per year. Jamil hoped with the formation of Dekopi, the consumption of coffee increases and the welfare of the coffee industry from upstream to downstream.

Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) establishes Task Force –Satgas of  Acceleration of Business Implementation at industrial sector. The task force is established as a follow-up to the issuance of Presidential Regulation No. 91/2017 on Acceleration of Business Implementation. Head of Industrial Research and Development Agency (BPPI) at the Ministry of Industry, Ngakan Timur Antara  in his official statement in Jakarta on Friday (2/3) said that this task force will perform escort and acceleration to handle business permit for investment in industrial sector. He further explained that to increase investment in the industrial sector, the Ministry of Industry have several strategies to be carried out by optimizing the utilization of fiscal facilities such as tax holiday, tax allowance, and import duty exemption of capital goods or raw materials. In addition, the Ministry of Industry has proposed a breakthrough of new facilities for investment activities in the form of super deduction for research and development activities and vocation as well as reduction of value-added tax for labor-intensive industries that can employ more than 1,000 people. In addition to investment, the government's ongoing effort is to boost exports. Ngakan views that as an initial strategy to increase exports, the Ministry of Industry has identified 15 export-oriented priority industries by 2018, covering the palm oil processing industry and its derivatives, food and beverage industry, paper and paper industry, crumb rubber industry, tires, and rubber gloves, as well as wood and wooden goods industries. Besides, there are also textile and textile products, footwear, cosmetics, soap and cleaning industries, automobile industry, electrical cable industry, pipe industry and iron pipe line, agricultural machine tool industry, electronics industry, jewelry industry, and craft industry. He also affirmed that his side has encouraged the expansion of exports to non-traditional markets, such as countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and regional organizations, Africa, Middle East and countries around the Indian Ocean with potential market to work with. Other strategies are through lobbying and negotiations within the framework of enhancing bilateral and multilateral cooperation by reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers to open ease of market penetration. Improved efforts are the facilitation of product promotion and business matching in new export destinations. Ngakan added, there are export financing facilities that need to be optimized in a bid to improve the competitiveness of the prices in export destination countries. Meanwhile, Minister of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto at Public Lecture at Syiah Kuala University (Unsyiah), Banda Aceh on last Sunday (25/2/2018) said that Indonesia's economic power is considered as one of the key players in encouraging global economic growth. Indonesia is able to contribute 2.5 percent to world growth. The achievements outperformed South Korea, Australia, Canada, England, Japan, Brazil and Russia. Based on the results of the World Economic Forum analysis, Asia was increasingly dominating world growth in 2017 and it is expected to be the same this year.