VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

First information is “Establishing Cooperation, 3 Sudanese Businesspeople visit PT INKA.”

Three business people who joined in Sudanese Engineer Association visited Indonesian state-owned enterprise, PT INKA’s train factory in Madiun, East Java on Thursday (9/1). Accompanied by PT INKA President Director Budi Noviantoro, the Sudanese businesspeople saw directly the facilities and potentials of Indonesian-made train industry products. One of the businesspeople said that the train produced by PT INKA is very appropriate for climate in Sudan. In the end of the visit, both parties made informal agreement to keep pursuing cooperation potential of rejuvenating Sudan’s train sector. This visit itself was follow-up of a meeting between Sudanese businesspeople and PT INKA President Director in Jakarta last week, facilitated by Indonesian Embassy in Khartoum. Four countries joined in MIKTA, namely Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Turkey expressed their concern for bushfire in Australia. The concern was conveyed by four countries’ foreign affairs ministers as published on Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s website on Friday (10/1). The four foreign ministers expressed sympathy and deepest grief for those who lost family members, and expected speedy recovery for all affected people. The ministers hoped the bushfire could be controlled immediately. Until early January 2020, around 10 million hectares of land, park, and housing were burnt. Data collected by Australian authority until January 9 2020 showed that at least, 27 people died because of this natural disaster. Most of the casualties were firefighters.

Diplomatic Corner with, “Japan Committed being Key Partner for Indonesia’s Priority Sector Development.

Indonesia welcomed the commitment of Japan to keep being key partner for Indonesian priority sector development. That was affirmed by Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister to Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu in the 7^th Indonesia-Japan Strategic Dialogue in Jakarta on Friday (10/1). In his first visit to Indonesia, Minister Toshimitsu agreed to support Indonesian government’s priorities in economy and human resource development. In economy, besides increasing investment and trade cooperation, both foreign ministers also agreed to intensify the development of Integrated Fisheries and Maritime Center in six Indonesian outermost islands. Especially for Natuna, besides fishery industry, Japan will support the grant of fishery surveillance ship and tourism industry development.

Travelling to West Sulawesi, you have to visit Polewali Mandar regency. This regency has some interesting tourism objects. There are beautiful sea, mountain, and river with rocks. In today’s Indonesian Wonder, we will recommend you to go to Kali Biru tourism area. The tourism object which is located at Batetanga village, Binuang district, Polman regency, offers the freshness of water of the river with beautiful natural panorama. To access the location of natural tourism object is not difficult. Kali Biru tourism area can be accessed by land transportation and takes around 15 - 30 minutes from city center of Polewali Mandar. To enter this complex, you will be charged Rp 5.000 for a ticket per person.

Kali Biru tourism object offers the beauty of natural panorama with big stones at the middle of the river and also lush trees. The freshness of water makes visitors feel comfort and want to soak longer in the river. At Kali Biru tourism area, there are 4 quite big swimming pools and can be used for swimming or playing water by kids. The spring of the pool comes from the spring of surrounding mountains.

Kali Biru Tourism site has many game rides for Outbond such as Flying Fox. Some corners at the location are decorated with beautiful ornaments for photo spot. Kali Biru also provides some facilities such as parking space, mosque, food courts as well as hall which can be used for meeting or gathering.

The first information is from Africa where it is celebrating 2020 with the Optimism of Increasing Economic Relations between Indonesia and South Africa.

The situation in South Africa is very challenging for Indonesia to be able to penetrate wider markets and bring diverse homeland productions to Africa.In 2019, some positive indications had been obtained by Indonesia, ranging from the commitment of several homeland companies to send representatives in South Africa until new investment plans for South African companies to Indonesia. Some agreements, such as the Defense Cooperation Agreement and MoU in the Fisheries Sector, have reached the final process.It is expected that 2020 will bring encouraging developments. That was the statement of the Indonesian Ambassador in Pretoria, Salman Al Farisi, opening 2020.Since 2015, trade trends between Indonesia and South Africa show fluctuating graphs. The Indonesian Ambassador was not overly concerned about the 2018 Indonesia-South Africa trade balance which showed a surplus for the South African side. Increased purchases of capital goods from South Africa show productive activities in Indonesia, mainly related to the need for intensive infrastructure development in recent years.

The second information is from Iran.Efforts to Encourage Increased Value of Trade between Indonesia and Iran.

Indonesian Ambassador to Iran, Octavino Alimudin attended the Indonesian Trade Promotion Forum held by Iranian Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) at the International Permanent Fairground, Tehran (Dec 31). On the occasion,  Ambassador Octavino delivered a presentation on the development of trade relations between the two countries; the value of trade between Indonesia and Iran was recorded higher than the value of Iran's trade with several other countries in Southeast Asia.During January-September 2019, the trade value of the two countries was recorded at US$106.4 million dollars, the surplus for Indonesia was worth US$85.6 million dollars while Iran's imports into Indonesia reached US$18.9 million dollars. The Ambassador further explained a number of prospective commodities from Iran, including LPG, dates, pistachios, medicines, medical devices, and steel. Meanwhile, prospective commodities from Indonesia include coffee, tea, textiles, garments, medicines and paper. Indonesia is a large market with 260 million people and a hub for countries in the Southeast Asian region.

The last information is from Singapore. Indonesian Foreign Minister and Singapore Foreign Minister Discuss Plans for Singapore President's Visit to Indonesia.

At the end of 2019, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, held a bilateral meeting with Singaporean Foreign Minister, Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore (Dec 31). Minister Retno Marsudi said that she discussed a number of plans to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in 2020, including the visit of Singaporean President, Halimah Yacob to Indonesia in February 2020. In addition, she also discussed the importance of continuing to reaffirm ASEAN's centrality in the region. Besides discussing bilateral issues, both Ministers discussed various ASEAN issues. They agreed that ASEAN must continue to play a central role in the region. Some of the issues discussed include Indo-Pacific cooperation, women's empowerment in the context of women, peace and security, ASEAN's role in the Rakhine State issue and the dynamics of the current regional situation.

Kebumen is a city which is located in the south of Java. The most common transportation mode to travel to Kebumen is by bus and train. Some of the major train stations in Kebumen include Kebumen, Gombong, and Karanganyar stations. There are also other stations such as Prembun, Soka, Kotawinangun. In addition to having wonderful tourism destinations, Kebumen is also famous for its delicious foods. One of which is Gembus. Gembus is a unique dish that can only be found in Gombong, Kebumen Regency.

Gembus is a traditional snack which is made from cassava. Firstly, we must peel the cassava. Afterwards, the cassava must be cleaned and grated with a machine. Thirdly, the grated cassava must be added with some spices and steamed before turning it to dough. After adding some flour, we shape the dough into a long and round form. The dough also looks like zero and the O letter. Gembus is ready to fry and serve.

The Ori Village in Kuwarsan Sub-district, Kebumen Regency is famous for its Gembus. Most people at the Ori Village are capable of making Gembus and marketing it. As Gembus becomes more popular, recently people have also started selling the raw one.

Usually, the sales of raw Gembus increases three days after Idul Fitri or the holy day of Muslims because at that time, homecoming travelers buy Gembus for oleh-oleh or gifts for their family. Each portion of fried Gembus consists of 6-8 pieces. It costs Rp 2,000. Gembus sellers usually open at around 4 pm until night. Furthermore, Gembus can also be found when there are celebrations such as Wayang Kulit or Leather Puppet Show.