VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia’s fishery exports in the first quarter of 2020 increased, as trade restrictions with China amid coronavirus concerns, pushed businesses to find new markets, according to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP).

"The increase in the value of Indonesian fishery exports during the January-March, 2020 period, was affected by the closure and restrictions on imports by China since the beginning of 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak," director general of Competitiveness Strengthening at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Nilanto Perbowo, said on Friday in Jakarta as quoted by Antara.

According to Perbowo, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted exporter countries such as Indonesia to divert shipments to the US and European markets, the largest markets for shrimp and tuna products.The increase in exports was mainly noted for processed raw materials, retail supply, ready-to-serve, and durable fish, such as canned fish.The United States ranked first among the five main export destination countries in January-March, 2020. Exports to China, which came next//Ant

The government will raise the capacity of participants and the budget for the pre-employment card program, in the coming second phase in response to the high level of interest, in the program among community members. As quoted by Antara,Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartanto made the statement at the coordination meeting on the pre-employment card and capacity building for the pre-employment program. The meeting, held via videoconference, was attended by Head of the Presidential Staff Office Dr Moeldoko in addition to several ministers and related officials. According to a press release sent by the Presidential Staff Office in Jakarta, Friday, the first wave of the Pre-Employment Card registration process was closed for participants on April 16. The program had a total of 5.7 million registrants, of which the status of 3.1 million participants had been verified//Ant

Head of Bank Indonesia’s Bali branch Trisno Nugroho stated, that the central bank had streamlined various instruments of the payment system policy, to boost non-cash payment transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. As quoted by Antara, Nugroho remarked in Denpasar that among other things, Bank Indonesia has waived, the imposition of the Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) transaction fees, for traders in the micro business category. Nugroho noted that the validity period for the QRIS Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) of zero percent is from April 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020. Moreover, Nugroho highlighted that Bank Indonesia had reduced the cost of the Bank Indonesia Clearing System (SKNBI), from Rp3,500 to Rp2,900, which is the maximum fee charged by banks to customers. This policy is effective from April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020//Ant

A crew of three are due to return from the International Space Station (ISS) early on Friday, to a very different planet they left last year. No strangers to isolation, Russian Oleg Skrypochka and Jessica Meir from the US left Earth in September 2019, well before Covid-19 emerged. Another American, Andrew Morgan, has been on the ISS since July 2019. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the usual routine for returning space crews.

"It's quite surreal to see it unfolding on Earth below," Ms Meir told reporters during a recent video call.

"From here, Earth looks just as stunning as usual, so it's hard to believe all of the changes that have taken place since we left."

The trio are scheduled to return to Earth at 05:00 GMT on Friday, by which time Mr Skrypochka and Ms Meir will have spent 205 days in space, and Mr Morgan 272 days. The capsule normally lands somewhere in Kazakhstan, then a search team picks up the crew and brings them to the closest airport and they all fly home. This time Kazakhstan has declared a state of emergency and most of the airports are closed. The search party is currently in strict quarantine and will have to take a test immediately before going out to pick up the arrivals, to ensure they cannot be infected//BBC