VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Dinna Prapto Raharja, an international relations expert from Synergy Policies. (ANTARA)

The Asia-Africa Conference needs to be used as a forum to promote equal access to COVID-19 vaccines, an expert has said ahead of the 66th commemoration of the conference on April 18, 2021.Dinna Prapto Raharja, an international relations expert from Synergy Policies, told ANTARA on Friday that The Asia-Africa Conference should be revived so that it can be used as a platform or a forum to promote the position of developing countries demanding equal rights of access to vaccines. 

The Asia-Africa Conference as a forum is unique because its ideology recognizes the equal rights of nations, "instead of about who can pay how much, or who wants to follow whom”Therefore, the conference can also be a forum for countries to make a joint effort to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic synergistically, she added.

She also emphasized that the Asia-Africa Conference serves as a reminder that in conditions of adversity, developing countries need to revert to solidarity as fellow countries who want peace and respect for human dignity, respect for state sovereignty, and equality of all nations.

Hence, the spirit of Dasa Sila Bandung (the Ten Principles of Bandung) -- which is the result of the first conference held from April 18-24, 1955 -- needs to be re-appointed. 

So that in a situation of distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic and globalization, which turns out to not fully humanize nations fairly, the spirit of Dasa Sila Bandung may guide countries not to prioritize short and narrow interests and go their separate ways. 

Humanity and Solidarity' is the theme proposed by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the Asia-Africa Conference in 2021.

The similarity of fate and the spirit of solidarity that gave birth to the conference of nations in Asia and Africa 66 years ago has again found its relevance when the world together builds solidarity to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic//ANT

Indonesia's foreign debt swells 4% to $422.6 bln in Feb - ANT

Indonesia’s foreign debt reached US$422.6 billion in February, an increase of 4 percent year-on-year (yoy), Bank Indonesia (BI) reported.

In comparison, the nation’s foreign debt showed a growth of 2.7 percent yoythe previous month, the central bank said.chief of BI’s communication department, Erwin Haryono, said on Friday that The debt growth was fueled by the government’s and private institutions’ foreign debts. The government’s foreign debt grew 4.6 percent (yoy) in February this year against 2.8 percent (yoy) in January on the back of efforts to handle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and accelerate the national vaccination program and social protection in the first quarter of 2021, he explained.

The foreign debt rose to meet the financing target set in the 2021 State Budget, met through domestic and foreign funding by prioritizing medium- and long-term debt and active debt portfolio management to control costs and risks, he said.

The debt was also used to support the priority budget in the government administrative, defense, and compulsory social security sector (which accounted for 17.7 percent of the total funding), the health service and social activity sector (17.2 percent), the educational service sector (6.3 percent), the construction sector (15.3 percent), and the financial service and insurance sector (12.7 percent), Haryono informed//ANT

French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu 

French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu said it was possible the French Open could be postoned for the second year amid the COVID-19 crisis.

France entered a third nationwide lockdown on Saturday to contain the coronavirus spread, although professional sports have largely been spared. An exception is cycling’s Paris-Roubaix one-day race, which has been postponed from its original April 11 slot.

The French Open, which last year was postponed by four months and took place in front of limited crowds, is due to start this year on May 23.

“We are in discussion with them (the French Tennis Federation, which organises the event) to see if we should change the date to coincide with a possible resumption of all sports and major events,” Maracineanu told France Info radio late on Saturday.

“Today, although high-level sport has been preserved, we try to limit the risks of clusters, of spreading the virus within professional sports.”

President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he was expecting to re-open the country in mid-May.

The director-general of the French Tennis Federation, Gilles Moreton, said earlier this week that he could not imagine the Grand Slam tournament being cancelled//Reuters

Ethiopia says Eritrean troops have started withdrawing from Tigray

Eritrean forces have started withdrawing from Ethiopia’s Tigray region in the north, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said.

The United States, Germany, France and other G7 countries called on Friday for a swift, unconditional and verifiable withdrawal of the Eritrean soldiers, followed by a political process that is acceptable to all Ethiopians.

In a rejoinder issued late on Saturday through the Foreign Ministry, Ethiopia said that the G7 foreign ministers’ statement had not acknowledged key steps being taken to address the needs of the region.

“The Eritrean troops who had crossed the border when provoked by the TPLF have now started to evacuate and the Ethiopian National Defense Force has taken over guarding the national border,” it said in a statement.

Fighting erupted in Tigray in early November after forces loyal to the then-governing party there - the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) - attacked army bases across the region. In late November, federal troops ousted the TPLF from the capital Mekelle and the Ethiopian government declared victory.

Thousands of people died in the conflict, hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes and there are shortages of food, water and medicine in the region. The government says most fighting has ceased but there are still isolated incidents of shooting.

Full access to the region has now been granted to humanitarian organisations, the Foreign Ministry said, adding that a joint investigation with external experts into alleged human rights violations will start soon.

“Whilst the government... honesty appreciates the concerns being expressed, it has already been too apparent that the supply of food and medicinal aid must be the crux of expressions of concerns,” the ministry said//Reuters