VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

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!