VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Equatorial Guinea's Foreign Minister, Simeon Oyono, signed a memorandum of understanding regarding visa-free for diplomatic passport holders of the two countries in Nusa Dua Bali, Wednesday (21/8) .Equatorial Guinea's Foreign Minister after the signing of the memorandum of understanding said, visa free for diplomatic passport holders would help the mobility of officials of both countries.

“We have signed a visa-free agreement for diplomatic passport holders. This agreement can also facilitate movements for Indonesian citizens to enter Equatorial Guinea and vice versa,” Simeon Oyono said.

Simeon Oyono further explained that his visit to Indonesia would strengthen cooperation between the two countries.  Currently, Equatorial Guinea and Indonesia have cooperation in the oil and gas sector. According to him, the Equatorial Guinea government will expand economic cooperation in the interests of both Negara.// (VOI/Brg/AHM)

Gorontalo Provincial Government will hold 2 major tourism events this year, Festival Pesona Danau Limboto (Lake Limboto Enchantment Festival) and Gorontalo Karawala Carnival. It was stated by Head of Tourism Office of Gorontalo Province, Rifli M. Katili, in a special interview with Voice of Indonesia in Jakarta, Wednesday (21/8). Rifli M. Katili hopes that the two big events can attract 1 million domestic tourists and 100,000 foreign tourists.

“So we have targets, a long term target and a short term one. In the long term target, we are expected by the central government, in this case the Ministry of Tourism, to help encourage foreign and domestic tourist visits. And this year we are aiming to reach the target of approximately 1 million for domestic tourists, and 10 percents of it for foreign tourists,” said Rifli M. Katili.

Rifli M. Katili added, Gorontalo Province has around 25 tourism agendas each year, which are spread out in every district and city. Lake Limboto Enchantment Festival will be held by Gorontalo District Government on 12 to 24 September. While Gorontalo Karawo Carnival will be held by the Gorontalo Provincial Government, in collaboration with Bank Indonesia Gorontalo Representative Office on 2 to 6 October. Karawo is a traditional Gorontalo cloth in the form of hand-made embroidery. Rifli M. Katili also hopes that Gorontalo Karawo Carnival which has been held for the 9th time, can introduce Gorontalo traditional cloth to the people of Indonesia and the world. (VOI / AHM)

The Indonesian Minister of Trade has conducted a series of bilateral meetings over the two days of organizing the Indonesia Africa Infrastructure Dialogue in Nusa Dua Bali. The Indonesian Minister of Trade, Enggartiasto Lukita in a joint press statement with the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Nusa Dua Bali, Wednesday (21/08) explained, they had held bilateral meetings with officials from several African countries such as Djibouti, an autonomous regions of Zanzibar, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda. Enggartiasto Lukita explained, Uganda has invited Indonesia to invest in the sharia banking sector and leather shoes.

“With Uganda we are invited to invest in the leather shoes sector and also Islamic banks to open branches in Uganda. And it was proposed by the Ugandan Minister that we prepare a kind of help desk for the export of Indonesian products,” said Enggartiasto Lukita.

Enggartiasto Lukita further explained, in response to the offer from Uganda, his side encouraged to carry out a study to be upgraded to the joint feasibility study stage.

Meanwhile in a bilateral meeting with Zanzibar which is an autonomous region in Tanzania, according to Enggartiasto Lukita, Indonesia was invited to develop tourism in Zanzibar.

In a bilateral meeting with Somalia, Indonesia was invited to invest in the housing sector. In response to the Somali offer, Enggartiasto said it would encourage the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing to follow up on the possibility of building low-priced housing in Somalia. (VOI / Brg / AHM)

The Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno LP Marsudi expressed her satisfaction with the implementation of the Indonesia Africa Infrastructure Dialogue because it produced concrete results in the form of a business agreement reaching 822 million US dollars. Retno Marsudi in a joint press statement with the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan and the Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita, at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center on Wednesday (21/08) said the number of business agreements is likely to increase again because the business agreement on the second day of Indonesia Africa Infrastructure Dialogue has not been recorded yet. The number of business agreements reached, according to Reno, reflects the potential of the African countries in cooperation with Indonesia.

“We are quite satisfied with the implementation of this meeting, for several reasons. First, when we talk about concrete matters, the figures presented yesterday, the business deal reached 822 Million US dollars which is not a small number and this reflects, once again, the great potential that Africa has to collaborate with Indonesia and this is an increase from last year's results . That was per yesterday (8/20). After that there are still a number of business meetings that we haven't counted today (21/08). So once again we are very satisfied with the implementation of this infrastructure dialogue,” said Retno Marsudi.

Retno explained, the implementation of the Indonesia-Africa Infrastructure Dialogue means that the trust of African countries in Indonesia is even greater. According to Retno, the high trust of African countries in the form of concrete cooperation with Indonesia was a step forward. In addition, Retno added, the implementation of the Indonesia-Africa Infrastructure Dialogue was an opportunity for Indonesia and Africa to see the potential for more clearly cooperation in the infrastructure, railroad, mining, education and tourism sectors. Retno added, in September 2019, the results of an agreement from the Indonesia Africa Infrastructure Dialogue would be immediately followed up by his ministry. (VOI / Brg / AHM)