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Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir. ANTARA/HO-Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Indonesian government explored cooperation in the field of agriculture with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), during a visit of Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi and Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir to Abu Dhabi.

Indonesia explored cooperation in the agricultural field with the UAE-based Elite Agro company, which planned to invest in agribusiness in West Java, Retno Marsudi said during a virtual press conference from Abu Dhabi, on Saturday evening.

The two ministers requested a support from the UAE government for the cooperation, and were scheduled to hold meetings with CEOs of several local companies including Elite Agro during the visit.

"As the final part of this visit, both of us will hold several meetings including with ADIA, then with Masdar, with ADNOC, and also with Elite Agro," she said.

She said that the UAE government showed a strong commitment to supporting strengthening cooperation in various fields, including food.

Meanwhile, Minister Erick Thohir said there was a large market potential, not only in the context of bilateral trade between Indonesia and the UAE, but also the UAE as a distribution hub for the Middle East and Africa region.

Thohir was upbeat that bilateral cooperation in food production would help improve the quality of Indonesia's food products.

The visit of the two Indonesian Ministers to Abu Dhabi was to follow-up a telephone conversation between President Joko Widodo and the Crown Prince of the UAE, Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed, on August 17. The two leaders discussed cooperation amid the pandemic, especially related to COVID-19 handling and cooperation in economic, energy and food.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE has imported micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSME) products from Indonesia, such as fruits, fresh vegetables and dried food products. (ANTARA)

Director of seedling horticulture at the Agriculture Ministry, Sukarman, and Batang vice district head Suyono harvest garlic at Pranten village, Batang district, Central Java. (ANTARA/Kutnadi)

The Agriculture Ministry is targeting to make Indonesia self-reliant in garlic production in 2024.

“We are continuing to boost the expansion of garlic plantation and production to reduce our dependence on imports,” director of seedling horticulture at the Agriculture Ministry, Sukarman, said in Batang, Central Java, on Saturday.

Indonesia's garlic needs have reached 500 thousand tons per year, while national production currently stands at 88 thousand tons per year, he noted.

“So, we still run short (of garlic) very much. For our part, we will boost (production) through the plantation expansion program and assistance for garlic growers," he said.

In 2019, the country's garlic plantation covered an area of 12 thousand hectares, and garlic production can be increased to 102 thousand tons in 2020, he said.

To become self-reliant in garlic production and increase production by fivefold, Indonesia still needs 70 thousand hectares under garlic plantation, he said.

The area under garlic plantation will be gradually increased not only in Java, but also in Sumatra, he said.

"Production can be increased in the next four years so we can reach the target of self-reliance in garlic production," he remarked. (ANTARA)

The closing of the 13th Asia Pacific Informatics Olympiad (APIO) 2020 competition in Jakarta, Friday (21/8). (ANTARA / HO- Public Relations Ministry of Education and Culture)

The Indonesian team managed to pocket six medals -- one gold medal, two silver and three bronze medals -- at the 13th Asia Pacific Informatics Olympiad (APIO) 2020 organized online.

Acting Head of the Ministry of Education and Culture's National Achievement Center, Asep Sukmayadi, congratulated the medal winners.

"Today, we are all proud. A great generation in the field of informatics is here. The responsibility rests on your shoulders to build an Asia-Pacific information society in future and that a just and civilized global information society is laid," Sukmayadi noted in a statement in Jakarta, Saturday.

APIO is organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud), through the National Achievement Center (Puspresnas), in collaboration with the Indonesian Computer Olympiad Team Alumni Association (IA-TOKI).

Sukmayadi remarked that competition and champions are not everything since the real champions are all the participants.

“Those with integrity that are able to work together, build networks, play a role, and deliver achievements to bring about changes in a just and civilized society," Sukmayadi noted.

Rama Aryasuta Pangestu, a student of the Kanisius Jakarta High School, expressed pride and contentment over his achievements and expressed readiness to make the Indonesian nation proud at the 2020 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) event in next September.

"Although I did not get a perfect score, I am happy to be in the gold medal category. For the IOI 2020, I will be even more enthusiastic about studying, and hopefully, I can bring back gold," Pangestu noted.

Of the five other medals, Nicholas Patrick, a student of SMA Cita Hati Christian School, Surabaya, East Java, and Pikatan Arya Bramajati, a student of SMA Semesta BBS Semarang, Central Java, were the silver medal winners, while the three bronze medalists were Muhammad Irham Luthfi, a student of the SMA Cahaya Madani Banten Boarding School; Maximilliano Utomo Quok, a student of Xin Zhong School; and Edbert Geraldy Cangdinata a student of SMA Sutomo 1 Medan, North Sumatra.

A total of 852 participants from 33 countries registered themselves to participate in the APIO 2020. Of the 852 participants, 717 participants from 33 countries took part in the APIO 2020 contest.

Based on APIO’s regulations, participants garnering the top six rank in their country and all participants in their country securing the same score as the sixth rank in their nation become the official participants of APIO 2020.

In the end, there were 241 official participants of the APIO 2020, of which 18 got full marks. Through calculations in the APIO regulations, 23 participants, with a score of at least 266 points, secure gold medals; 38 participants, with a score of at least 200 points, receive silver medals; while 59 official participants, with a score of at least 96 points, win bronze medals.

The championship held on August 14-21, 2020, was themed "Informatics for a Better Education and Life". Participants from their respective locations across the nation work on questions online.

"Learning in this period (COVID-19) is not easy, but this is the time for us to innovate. It is time to conduct various experiments, listen to our conscience, and learn from COVID-19, so that we can all become better individuals in future," Sukmayadi stated.(ANTARA)

Bio Farma President Director Honesti Basyir (seated left) signed a Preliminary Agreement of Purchase and Supply of Bulk Production of COVID-19 Vaccine with Sinovac General Manager Gao Xiang (seated right) as Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, who is also Chief of the Committee for the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPEN), and Foreign Minister Retno L. Marsudi looked on in Hainan, China, on August 20, 2020. ANTARA/HO-Kementerian BUMN.

Indonesian vaccine producer PT Bio Farma looks set to receive 50 million doses of ready-to-fill (RTF) concentrate from China's pharmaceutical firm, Sinovac Biotech Ltd., during November 2020-March 2021 period for bulk production of COVID-19 vaccine.

To this end, both sides inked a preliminary agreement on the purchase and supply of the bulk production of COVID-19 vaccine in Hainan, China, on Thursday (August 20).

Under the agreement, Bio Farma will not only process and distribute COVID-19 vaccine but will also receive a technology transfer in the production of the vaccine from Sinovac, Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, concurrently chief of the Committee for COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPEN), stated.

"During this visit, we would like to ensure the transformation of our health industry. The cooperation between Bio Farma and Sinovac is a win-win cooperation. We highlighted the need to agree on a transfer of knowledge and transfer of technology from Sinovac," he remarked in a press statement released on Friday.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Retno L. Marsudi affirmed that both nations had inked two agreements on August 20, 2020. Under the first agreement, Indonesia will receive an additional supply of bulk COVID-19 vaccine until March 2021. The additional supply will last until the end of 2021.

The agreement is aimed at concurring on the commitment to the bulk supply of up to 50 million doses of vaccine between November 2020 and March 2021, she revealed.

The second agreement is related to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Sinovac and Bio Farma on bulk vaccine capacity commitment in 2021 under which Sinovac will give priority to Bio Farma in the bulk supply of the vaccine until the end of 2021.

"This is quite a long-term cooperation between Bio Farma and Sinovac," she stated.

President Director of Bio Farma Honesti Basyir revealed that his company awaits the first shipment of 10 million bulk doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in November 2020 and another 10 million bulk doses in December 2020.

Another 10 million bulk doses of vaccine will be shipped in each of the first three months of 2021. In total, Bio Farma will receive 50 million bulk doses of COVID-19 vaccine until March 2021, he stated.

"Let us accomplish our big tasks to produce and distribute the vaccine among the Indonesian people immediately," she stated.

Basyir expounded that Bio Farma will not immediately produce the bulk supply of RTF concentrate, received in November 2020, into vaccine, but it will conduct a series of tests on it at the Bio Farma laboratory and register it with the Drug and Food Control Agency (BPOM).

Bio Farma will later conduct filling and packaging processes to turn it into the end product that will also carry the components of local content and technology transfer in the field of fill/finish bulk.  (ANTARA)