VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

FILE PHOTO: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks at a news conference in Warsaw, Poland April 4, 2022. Dawid Zuchowic/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS - 

Japan plans to extend up to US$100 million in aid to developing countries in the Indo-Pacific region to help them better battle the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Friday (May 13).

Hayashi made the comment to reporters on the sidelines of a Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers meeting in Germany, where discussion focused mostly on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We will also discuss COVID-19 response at working dinner tonight. I will unveil a plan to offer up to US$100 million in aid mainly to the Indo-Pacific, with focus on vaccination data management, border control and disposal of infectious waste," he said.

At the meeting, G7 foreign ministers have reaffirmed their resolve to crank up pressure on Russia through measures including further sanctions to have Moscow halt its aggression and withdraw troops from Ukraine immediately, Hayashi also said.

Russia calls its action in Ukraine a "special military operation"//CNA

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi while briefing the press on President Joko Widodo's visit to Washington D.C. on Friday night local time (ANTARA/HO-Biro Pers Sekretariat Presiden/Muchlis Jr) - 

The ASEAN-US Special Summit issued an ASEAN-US Joint Vision Statement stressing commitment to enhance cooperation in various strategic sectors, including pandemic recovery and climate change mitigation efforts.

"As a coordinator, Indonesia chaired negotiations on a joint vision statement," Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi noted in a press statement released online on Saturday.

Under the joint efforts for pandemic recovery and regional health resilience, the summit agreed on an ASEAN-US Health Initiative Program.

"The US supports the ASEAN to strengthen its infrastructure capacity in a sustainable way for essential medical products and joint researches," she remarked.

To this end, economic cooperation and connectivity were also boosted to facilitate the strengthening of a supply chain and regional connectivity for medical equipment, medicines, vaccines, and farm commodities.

For climate change mitigation, both sides will allocate funds through the US-ASEAN Climate Future to support nationally determined contribution (NDC) in ASEAN member states.

In addition, partnership between the public and private sectors was boosted to accelerate clean energy transition through a funding scheme, blended finance, and technological transfer.

The ASEAN and the US agreed to enhance educational cooperation, including collaboration between universities and companies, through a Billion Futures Program aimed at improving educational development, teacher training, and gender mainstreaming.

Both sides also concurred on boosting maritime cooperation by strengthening coordination between law enforcement agencies in the fields of maritime domain awareness (MDA), search and rescue (SAR), maritime security, and eradication of illegal, unreported, unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The meeting also reached an in-principle agreement on promoting ASEAN-US partnership, from strategic partnership to comprehensive strategic partnership.

The ASEAN-US Special Summit brought together US President Joe Biden and ASEAN leaders, including President Joko Widodo.

"The presence of Mr President (Jokowi) at the series of meetings at the ASEAN-US Summit would hopefully strengthen concrete cooperation between the ASEAN and US to contribute to ensuring peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific," Marsudi stated//ANT

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) at the ASEAN-US Special Summit in Washington D.C. on Friday (ANTARA/HO-Biro Pers Sekretariat Presiden/Laily Rachev) - 

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), at the ASEAN-US Special Summit in Washington D.C. on Friday, called for an immediate halt to the war in Ukraine.

The war has led to a humanitarian tragedy and deteriorated the global economy, he stated.

"When the world should have recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic soon, it faces a new problem, the war in Ukraine. When the world needs cooperation and collaboration, rivalry and confrontation have increasingly become sharper. When the world needs increasingly stronger multilateralism, unilateralism has increasingly emerged," he remarked.

The war has deteriorated the global economy since it raised the food and energy prices and triggered inflation. Hence, it highly burdened the economy and slowed down the realization of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in developing nations and least developed countries, he remarked.

He said the war has weakened multilateralism and will potentially tear apart relations among countries.

"War will not benefit anybody. The world has no other choice but to stop the war without delay. Each country, each leader takes responsibility for creating an enabling environment, so the war can be stopped and peace can be created," he emphasized.

Due to the war, economic growth has also become a cause for concern. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised downward its economic growth forecasts for emerging and developing countries in Asia by 0.5 percent in 2022 and 0.2 percent in 2023.

The World Bank also slashed its economic growth forecast for several ASEAN member states by up to 1.2 percent.

"For some ASEAN member states, a 10-percent increase in oil price will reduce the national income by 0.7 percent and an increase in wheat flour price will raise the poverty rate by one percent," he stated.

Jokowi reiterated what he had delivered at a meeting with the US Congress.

"For more than five decades, the ASEAN continued to build an inclusive security architecture, prioritize the collaboration paradigm, and encourage the habit of dialogue and rules-based order. We also encouraged the same spirit in the Indo-Pacific through the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific," he noted.

At the Special Summit, which brought together US President Joe Biden and ASEAN leaders, Jokowi warmly welcomed the US initiative through the Indo Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

"Of course, the cooperation under IPEF must be inclusive. I hope for synergy between IPEF and the implementation of priority cooperation in AOIP (ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific)," he affirmed.

As Indonesia is chosen as the chair of ASEAN next year, he delivered a plan to realize IPEF.

"I hope for US participation in the forum," he stated.

At the ASEAN-US Special Summit, Jokowi was accompanied by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Trade Minister Muhammad Luffi, and Indonesian Ambassador to the US Rosan Roeslani//ANT

President Director of PT Transportasi Jakarta Mochammad Yana Aditya (right) and Chief Planning Officer of Switch Mobility Ltd. Sarwant Singh (left) sign a cooperation Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) on May 13, 2022. (ANTARA/HO-PT Transjakarta/uyu) - 

Region-owned transportation enterprises (BUMD) PT Transportasi Jakarta (TransJakarta) inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with British electric bus and manufacturer Switch Mobility Ltd. in London on Friday.

"It shows TransJakarta's commitment in providing electric buses as its future fleet," Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan noted in a statement.

Baswedan expects that through the agreement, TransJakarta will have wider access to various electric bus providers, both locally and internationally, especially those from the United Kingdom (UK).

"It considers that the technology, financing, and procurement model innovations in the UK are developing quite rapidly," he stated.

Meanwhile, President Director of TransJakarta Mochammad Yana Aditya expressed belief that the collaboration can support Indonesia to achieve net-zero emissions through the utilization of electric buses as a means of public transportation.

Aditya noted that the two parties were currently still in the exploration stage of the cooperation.

It is planned that the British enterprise will test its buses to run along the TransJakarta route in accordance with the testing and operational aspects of TransJakarta’s applicable Minimum Service Standards (SPM).

"We want to ensure that the customers’ demand for electric bus operations can be fulfilled optimally," the president director stated.

The test is expected to be conducted in the second quarter of 2023. If the trial runs well, then the transportation service will continue to officially operate under the collaboration.

Aditya stated that in accordance with the 2015 Paris Agreement, the government sets Indonesia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) that targets to reduce carbon emissions by 29 percent through its own efforts and by 41 percent with foreign assistance by 2030f as well as to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.

“One of the important factors in achieving the target is to decarbonize the transportation sector,” he affirmed.

His side expressed belief that the target can be realized on account of the fact that the entire conventional bus fleet of the company will be replaced by an electric one in 2030//ANT