VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia is considering hosting the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2025, over a decade after it successfully held the forum in Bali.

Deputy Minister of Communication and Informatics Nezar Patria informed that Indonesia's proposal to host the IGF in 2025 is based on its success at holding the forum, especially in terms of experience and knowledge.

"Indonesia has experience in terms of (involving) multi-stakeholders and knowledge capacity to host the IGF global meeting again," he said.

He made the statement during a bilateral meeting with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua at the IGF 2023 in Kyoto, Japan, on Monday.

At the meeting, Patria emphasized that it is important to involve several stakeholders ranging from the government, academics, practitioners, and civil society in the forum.

IGF, he said, is an important forum for multi-stakeholders to share their knowledge on Internet governance.

Meanwhile, Under-Secretary-General Li welcomed Indonesia's proposal to host the IGF in 2025.

"For the record, 2025 is a critical year because it will be two decades since the mandate to hold IGF was given by the UN. The UN will conduct a review of whether or not IGF will continue. However, looking at the existing dynamics, IGF is very likely to continue," he said.

According to Li, there are two countries that have officially expressed their interest in hosting IGF 2025: Russia, which submitted its proposal in 2020, and Norway, which wrote to the UN in 2022.

Li recommended that Indonesia propose hosting the IGF in 2026.

"This will be a good choice because if the IGF mandate continues, which I personally believe so, it will be the 1st IGF in its 3rd decade," he said. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi has emphasized the importance of using the G20 meeting in Brazil next year to amplify the voices of the Global South.

“I’m sure Brazil's G20 presidency will continue to support agendas that promote stability, solidarity, and equality in the global order,” she said after a bilateral meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira in Jakarta on Monday.

“If developing countries like us work together, we can be the positive force that drives transformative changes,” Marsudi added at a joint press conference after the meeting.

Vieira said he agreed that the Global South, which refers to developing and less developed countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania, should work closer to bring their interests and needs to the heart of the international agenda.

During the meeting with her Brazilian counterpart, Marsudi said that Indonesia fully supports Brazil’s presidency of the G20.

The G20 Summit will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2024. India is holding the presidency of the grouping this year.

Brazil has set three priorities for its G20 presidency next year: social inclusion and fighting hunger and inequality, sustainable development, and reform of global governance institutions.

Brazil has also commended Indonesia's active leadership of the G20 in 2022 and pledged to build on the work done by Indonesia and India during their presidency of the grouping.

During the meeting, the two ministers also discussed ways to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between Indonesia and Brazil in a number of key areas, including energy and food security, forest cooperation, and joint vaccine production for foot-and-mouth disease.

Indonesia also asked Brazil to invest in cattle breeding in the country, as well as called for cooperation in renewable energy, including the development of ethanol as biofuel and sugarcane plantations. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia has said it is optimistic that bilateral cooperation with the Netherlands would expedite the archipelagic nation's energy transition to increase energy resilience and combat climate change.

"So, we hope it will, of course, accelerate the program of our net-zero emissions target," said Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Arifin Tasrif, at the Renewable Energy and Climate Summit Indonesia-Netherlands, here on Monday.

Tasrif made the remarks in view of climate change, which is causing extreme weather throughout the world. Natural disasters are also becoming more frequent and coastal areas are experiencing land subsidence due to rising sea levels.

"Currently, most of the Asia region is also experiencing an increase in air temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius," Tasrif noted.

This situation underscores the need for rapid transformation of the energy system toward more environmentally friendly and sustainable energy use.

Hence, it is important to continue to improve cooperation with the Netherlands to realize the transition toward the use of renewable and sustainable energy, he said.

As part of an effort to script an energy transition and help tackle climate change, Indonesia has devised a road map for achieving net zero emissions by 2060 through the massive development of new and renewable energy, with a focus on solar, water, wind, and geothermal energy resources, said the minister.

He then emphasized the importance of prioritizing carbonization programs through several strategies such as developing renewable energy projects with a new procurement mechanism and more attractive tariffs.

Other important efforts have comprised introducing carbon trading and carbon exchange in the power generation sectors, preparing a road map for the early retirement of coal-fired power plants, and implementing the conversion of diesel fuel power plants into gas and renewable energy power plants.

In the meantime, implementing biomass coal firing at coal-fired power plants is also considered important, in addition to providing funding for geothermal drilling to reduce uncertainty in geothermal development. (Antaranews)

The United Nations and several countries are lining up aid for Afghanistan after a devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake in the northwest killed more than 2,000 people.

Below are some facts about the pledges so far, as U.N. agencies try to assess the damage and casualties in Herat province in northwestern Afghanistan.

The U.N. humanitarian coordinator has approved a $5 million emergency reserve allocation from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund (AHF).

It said its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will launch and fully process the allocation within 24 hours, with eligible partners able to utilize their grants effective from Oct. 9.

The AHF allocations will be depend on receiving additional donor resources, it said, adding that the U.N. partners will also develop an emergency appeal which will be a subset of the existing 2023 humanitarian response plan.

Pakistan, Iran and China have pledged to send in food, blankets, medicines, tents and funds.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar said that Kabul had specifically asked for medical teams, field hospitals, tents and blankets, adding that all the requested items were being dispatched on Monday afternoon, with more relief goods to follow.

Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdullahian promised humanitarian aid and expressed his readiness to cooperate with Afghanistan, according to a statement.

The Chinese Red Cross Society has pledged $200,000 in aid which will go to the Afghan Red Crescent, according to Chinese state run news agency Xinhua.

Turkey's foreign office said in a statement it was ready to provide support for the recovery efforts in the affected areas. (Reuters)