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This is RRI World Service, Voice of Indonesia with Diplomatic Corner, a program which presents information about activities and progress of Indonesian Diplomacy in the international world.

First information is from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Batik, one of the world cultural heritages from Indonesia, established by UNESCO, was the center of attention in the Indonesian Batik Festival held at the Indonesia Embassy in Dhaka, on November 21 and 22. This festival was held to promote batik from Indonesia to the people of Bangladesh, such as a variety of batik fashion show activities, talk shows about batik, batik making workshops, and exhibitions and sales of Indonesian batik. Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Rina P. Soemarno on the sidelines of the festival on Wednesday (21/11) said that such activities made batik increasingly get a place in the hearts of Bangladeshi people.

The next information is still from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Preferential Trade Agreement –PTA between Indonesia and Bangladesh is one of the key factors in increasing trade cooperation between the two countries. Bangladesh was the 7th largest surplus country in 2017; the trade volume between Indonesia and Bangladesh has reached a surplus of around 80 percent for Indonesia. PTA negotiations between the two countries were agreed on by President Joko Widodo when he made a state visit to Bangladesh in early 2018. Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Rina P Soemarno hoped in Dhaka on Wednesday (21/11) that to facilitate the bilateral trade, the first round of negotiations would begin soon. The first negotiations for PTA Indonesia and Bangladesh will start in December. Ambassador Rina said that with PTA, it would be able to help plan the next 5 years to increase the market share of Indonesia and Bangladesh to 50 percent through energy cooperation, agricultural technology, livestock, transportation, and information and communication technology. This is in line with the increasing capacity of the Bangladesh economy. Based on United Nations assessment, Bangladesh is expected to 'get through' from the Least Developed Country or underdeveloped country category by 2021.

CEO of Punjab Board of Investment and Trade, Jahanzeb Burana said that that the biggest challenge between Pakistan and Indonesia is the lack of understanding of Pakistani people to Indonesia and vice-versa. This was stated by Jahanzeb Burana when he welcomed the delegation of the Journalist Visit Program. Jahanzeb said that Pakistan is an untapped market that is ready to become an economic diplomacy partner and this is profitable for Indonesia. At present, the value of Indonesian-Pakistani trade was at US$2.6 billion dollars in 2017; US $1.6 billion was contributed by oil palm. As the third largest palm oil export destination in the world, oil palm dominates Indonesia-Pakistan trade relations. Currently, the Indonesia-Pakistan trade balance is still a surplus of US$2.1 billion dollars for Indonesia. To be effective early 2019, Indonesia will add 20 Pakistani products to the Preferential Trade Agreement to help balance the Indonesian-Pakistani trade balance. This was approved by the representative of the Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad, Adelin Marisa. The Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad has not only signed a memorandum of understanding with seven travel agents in Islamabad to increase Pakistani tourists to Indonesia, but has also invited several Pakistani news agencies to Indonesia through a familiarization trip scheme.

That was Diplomatic Corner!

Welcome back to Miscellany. In today's edition, we will present you information about Indonesia as the host of the annual international culinary expo

The 2018 SIAL Interfood Culinary Expo took place from 21-24 November at JiExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta. The SIAL Interfood is an international culinary expo affiliating with a French trade expo named Salon International de L'alimenation (Global Food Marketplace). The annual expo presents various stalls of food, beverages, hotel, restaurant, and cafe equipment, catering services, and bakery. Deputy of Industrial and Institutional Development at the Indonesian Tourism Ministry, Rizki Handayani Mustafa says that the SIAL Interfood 2018 will support the development of Indonesian culinary industry as well as promote Indonesian tourism. Rizki Handayani added that Indonesian culinary industry has developed rapidly. Nowadays, it is very easy to find restaurants or coffee shops serving modern cuisine in both big and small cities. The revival of Indonesian culinary is also reflected by the huge foreign reserves contributed from this industry that is 30% of tourists' expenditures.

The expo holds a number of events in collaboration with numerous organizations, associations, as well as national and international culinary and gastronomical chefs, and practitioners, such as the SIAL innovation or the highest appreciation given to participants with the best innovation in food products and their supporting industry like packaging. The brands which win the SIAL innovation will be featured in all SIAL Interfood expos in France, Canada, India, China, and Middle Eastern countries. Besides, there is an event called La Cuisine Competition in collaboration with World's Chefs and Association of Culinary Professionals -ACP. It is a forum for international culinary experts and professional chefs to demonstrate and compete their cooking skills.

Some other events include tea demo and tea-brewing competition, seminar and workshop about coffee and wine, as well as business meeting among international culinary businesspeople. This year, the SIAL Interfood 2018 targets 75,000 visitors. Last year, The SIAL Interfood 2017 was participated in by 900 participants from 33 countries and 53,000 visitors from 49 countries.

That was Miscellany about Indonesia as the host of the annual international culinary expo.

Today's Mosaic of the Archipelago presents information: first, Tanah Laut holds Folk Market 2018. The second is that Grebeg Maulud in Madiun is enlivened by Gunungan 'Jaler' and 'Estri' parade. We end Mosaic of the Archipelago with the information on Tourim Minister facilitates Business-to-Business of Lombok and Yogyakarta industry.

Regional government of Tanah Laut, South Kalimantan held Folk Market 2018 at Pertasi Kencana Pelaihari square on Wednesday (21/11). Regent of Tanah Laut, Sukamta said that Folk Market 2018 is an annual event to commemorate the anniversary of Tanah Laut regency. He said that the implementation of Folk Market 2018 is different from the previous year because the event is handed over to vendors as implementer, which is organized in the group of PKL Uber Rezeki or in English means Vendors Chase Fortune. The regional government only facilitates it. The event was attended by Deputy Regent of Tanah Laut,  Regional House of Representative’s members of Tanah Laut, Head of Cooperative Office of Small Business and Trade of Tanah Laut. In addition, Head of the vendors’ group and the committee of the event also attended the event.

City’s government of Madiun held Gunungan, 'Jaler' and 'Estri' parade. The parade of the two events was the peak of Grebeg Maulud event to commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad SAW 1440 Hijriah, which felt on Tuesday (20/11). The parade took route at ancient mosque park to Madiun city’s square. Gunungan Jaler contained of raw vegetables, while  Gunungan Estri contained of snacks. After being paraded, the two gunungan events were prayed and then seized by local people. They believed if they succeeded to get part of the gunungan, they would get blessing in their life. Head of Historical Development Section, Culture, Tourism, Youth and Sports Office, Madiun city, Sumiati said that the parade is a manifestation to imitate the teachings of Prophet Muhammad SAW. Meanwhile, Mayor of Madiun, Sugeng Rismiyanto said that the parade of gunungan Jaler and Estri has become religious cultural tourism icon in Madiun. In the future, to enliven the birth of Prophet Muhammad SAW, his side would ask related offices to invite Small and Medium Enterprises to conduct bazar for three days at Madiun city’s square.

We end Mosaic of the Archipelago with the information on Minister of Tourim facilitates Business-to-Business of Lombok and Yogyakarta industry.

Big mission was carried out by Tour Agent and Tour Operator (TA/TO) of Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara in Yogyakarta. Facilitated by Tourism Ministry, as many as 20 Tour Agents and Tour Operators offered various kinds of tourism packages to Lombok and West Nusa Tenggara and to affirm if tourism of West Nusa Tenggara has been recovered. Business-to-Business (B2B) event was packaged in Table Top and Gala Dinner of West Nusa Tenggara rise Asia, held starting from November 20-22, 2018. Head of the Working Team of Destination and Promotion Recovery of West Nusa Tenggara, Dr. Farid Said stated that the team has proposed various activities both destination recovery and promotion to accelerate NTB tourism recovery post-earthquake. This was stated by Dr. Farid in his press release received by RRI on Tuesday (20/11). The event is follow-up on tourism recovery post-earthquake that hit Lombok and surrounding areas on August 5, 2018. Previously, Tourism Minister, Arief Yahya has set a Decree related to the Working Team. The team did efforts and activities in the form of 3A data collection (Attraction, Accessibility, and Amenity), psychological recovery through trauma healing and promotion of tourism destination that was not affected. Head of Marketing of Area II Regional III at the deputy of Marketing I Section of Tourism Ministry, Hendry Noviardi explained that the intended destination is Special  Economic Zone of Mandalika which is being developed by ITDC as Priority Tourism Destination, Sekotong (Gili Nangu, Gili Sudak, Gili Kedis), as part of Senggigi and Mataram city.

That was Mosaic of the Archipelago.

RRI World, Service -Voice of Indonesia with Diplomatic Corner, a program which presents information about activities and progress of Indonesian diplomacy in the international world. 

The first information is from Geneva.

Indonesian delegation in World Trade Organization -WTO at the meeting of Committee on Technical Barriers on Trade of goods questioned again two European Union policies which will hamper the access of palm oil export and derivative products to 28 markets of European Union member countries. The meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday (14-15/11). The obstacle of the European Union policy is RED II or Amendment Renewable Energy Directive 2009/20/EC which is related to European Union plan to prohibit using biofuel from palm oil. European Union also enforces palm oil free labeling on various consumers products which are conducted voluntarily by private companies in European Union. Indonesian delegation perceived that the two European policies only will take benefit for vegetable oil producers from the European Union, which is from rape-seed. Indonesian permanent representative in Geneva, Ambassador Hasan Kleib also said that voluntarily labeling method is not fair because it discriminates import products from domestic products, a condition that is prohibited by WTO’s agreement.

The next information is from Jeddah.

Team of Directorate General of General Administration at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights conducted socialization of citizen service innovation based on online.  The electronic system was introduced to staffs at the Indonesian consulate general in Jeddah. Director of State Administration at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Kartiko Nurintias in his written statement said on Tuesday (20/11) that the application makes easy access and gives service certainty for applicants who want to propose citizenship. The electronic system provides 6 types of services by submitting the application for the statement to choose the citizenship for Indonesian people with dual citizenship, to request to be Indonesia citizen, to request to receive again Indonesian citizenship, to apply for a certificate of loss of citizenship, to request loss of his or her citizenship to President, and to report the loss of citizenship automatically. Kartiko also remarked that the existence of the application is also to protect the applicants from brokering practices and declared that all data that are proposed through the application are guaranteed by using QR barcode system.

We end Diplomatic Corner from Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia.

Around 50 foreign bikers of Brompton will do bicycling tour in Bali, starting from November 23-24, 2018 to enjoy beautiful scenery, culinary and taking pictures. Those who will come are influential bikers in their countries. Therefore, Brompton cycling tour which is the first time conducted in Bali, is expected to be able to invite other bikers to come and tour to Bali next year. Head of Brompton Owners Bali, Karonaituha Wiwin said in Gianyar, Bali on Wednesday that 50 tour participants of “We love Bali – Brompton World Travelers come from Singapore, Malaysia, China, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Macau. He also said that 19 bikers are women. The touring will start from Thursday from the statue of Garuda Wisnu Kentjana (GWK) to Udayana University, Kedonganan and will end in Kuta. On Friday (24/11), the bikers will begin from Karangasem to Ubud. Head of Tourism Office of Bali, AA Gede Yuniartha Putra welcomed Brompton World Traveler in Bali.

That’s Diplomatic Corner.