VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government continues to improve bilateral cooperation with South Korea in various fields, especially in the industrial sector, both increasing trade and investment. To open up greater opportunities for synergy between the two countries, the Indonesian Minister of Industry (Menperin RI) Airlangga Hartarto held a meeting with South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy (MoTIE), Sung Yun Mo.

"This meeting was to follow up the leaders' meeting, which also followed up on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in September 2017," the Minister of Industry said after the meeting in Seoul on Wednesday (26/6) local time.

In general, according to Airlangga, the business and economic sectors of Indonesia and South Korea have made a lot of progress. Some of the strategic cooperation that has been carried out includes joint task forces to promote economic cooperation.

"We have the Indonesia-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2019 which targets bilateral trade up to USD30 billion in the next 2022," he added.

According to Airlangga, the Ministry of Industry currently has a total of 10 international cooperation agreements with various partners in the Republic of Korea. The six agreements include cooperation between units within the Ministry of Industry and government institutions in Korea.

"In general, the level of implementation of the Ministry of Industry's cooperation with partners in the Republic of Korea is very good, namely nine out of 10 agreements have been implemented," he said.

On that occasion, there was also a signing of further cooperation between the Ministry of Industry and the National Research Council for Economics, Humanity, and Social Sciences or the National Research Council for South Korea's Economic, Humanities and Social Sciences (NRC). "This is a derivative agreement on industry-related MoU 4.0 which was signed on September 10, 2018," he said.

The Minister of Industry explained, the continued cooperation would facilitate the placement of technical experts, including holding industrial implementation 4.0 which would be carried out in five industrial sectors, namely automotive, food and beverage, textile and textile, chemical and electronic products.

"As a follow-up to the MoU, we signed an agreement on the technical cooperation framework with NRC," he said.

The Minister of Industry also explained the development of industrial investment from South Korea in Indonesia. For example, the Posco steel industry company has invested in the past four years to produce 3 million tons of steel from the blast furnace process to the slab. "We are discussing the 10 million steel roadmap in Cilegon for the year 2025, then building a downstream industry with products such as CRC," he explained.

Meanwhile, in the chemical industry, Lotte Chemicals has conducted a ground breaking plant with an investment of USD4 billion. "It is expected that this plant will operate in 2020. Meanwhile, we are engaged with Hyundai Motor Corporation about its investment plans in Indonesia. In principle, we provide support for this investment, "he added.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Industry continues to support increased collaboration in five industrial sectors according to Making Indonesia 4.0's priority to conduct deeper cooperation. "One of the considerations is the Indonesian mobile market which amounts to 60 million. In addition, the digital economy is highly developed in Indonesia with the support of the younger generation, "said the Minister of Industry.

Airlangga believes that cooperation between Korea and Indonesia can be done to explore the structure of the industry, especially to support the cellphone and IoT industry. Moreover, with the current conditions of trade competition, there are several telecommunications equipment industries that compete for the 5G market, including Korean companies.

On the same occasion, Minister Sung Yun Mo conveyed, Indonesia is an important partner country for Korea. With the creation of a conducive business climate, a number of industrial investments from South Korea are still expanding.

"Regarding Posco which continues to expand in the steel industry sector, we thank you for the smooth running of the project. Then, related to Lotte, we hope to continue to get support for the continuation. Through this investment, it will sustain development in Indonesia and Korea. So, there is a win-win result, "he said.

Minister Sung Yun Mo added, strengthening the cooperation between the two countries not only in the steel and chemical sectors, but also targeting the automotive sector. This is important because it can strengthen industrial competitiveness in Indonesia.

"Automotive cooperation also opens opportunities for component suppliers, with a large number of vehicle component needs, this can also strengthen SMIs in Indonesia. This cooperation is very meaningful, because it will increase competitiveness, and contribute to a healthier industrial ecosystem, "he added. (kemenperin)

The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, has conducted a Bilateral Meeting with the Japanese Foreign Minister, Taro Kono, in Osaka on June 27, 2019. Opening the meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kono welcomed the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific and appreciated Indonesia's leadership in the region.

Both Foreign Ministers also discussed the development of the situation at Rakhine State and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kono expressed appreciation for the role of the AHA Center. "The AHA Center has done a good job," said Foreign Minister Kono.

Still related to regional issues, the two Foreign Ministers hope that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations can be concluded by the end of this year.

Regarding bilateral relations, the two Foreign Ministers agreed that the 2 + 2 meeting (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense) will be held in the second half of 2019. On this occasion, the two Foreign Ministers also welcomed the completion of the General Review of Economic Partnership Cooperation (IJEPA) negotiations and committed to finalizing the discussion of the IJEPA amendment protocol before the end of 2019.

The two Foreign Ministers had the opportunity to discuss the progress of employment with the signing of the MoU on the cooperation of specific skills and the technical cooperation MoU for apprenticeship programs in Japan. With this agreement, Indonesia's skilled workers, including Indonesian apprentices in Japan, now have a greater opportunity to fill the fields of work in the formal sector, such as health, agriculture, fisheries and automotive. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) accompanied by First Lady Iriana left for Osaka, Japan to attend the summit of countries belonging to the Group 20 (G-20), in Osaka, Japan, which was held June 28-29 2019.

The Head of State and his entourage departed from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta, on Thursday (6/27) night, accompanied by Minister of State (Minister of State) Pratikno.

After delivering a press statement related to the Constitutional Court Decision regarding the election lawsuit accompanied by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, President Jokowi said, at the summit he would speak two things.

"The first is related to innovation in the digital economy and also the second is related to efforts to overcome gaps," the President said.

During the press conference the President will also remind his present colleagues, both the prime minister, president and king in the G-20 regarding the current world situation filled with uncertainty and overshadowed by the increasing issue of trade war.

"I hope that the G20 countries, their leaders can show collective wisdom and leadership so that the situation is better and more certain for us all," the President said.

As is known, the group of countries in Group 20 or abbreviated as G20 was first formed at the G7 meeting in Berlin, Germany in 1999.

In September 2008, the G20 Summit was first held in Washington, United States, which was attended by 20 (twenty) heads of state.

These countries include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, People's Republic of China, South Africa , and members of the European Union.

The hope of activating the G-20 meeting is to avoid the world from the global crisis that has spread like what happened in 1997-1998 and 2007-2008. (setkab) 

The Constitutional Court's (MK's) nine judges ended their final ruling session here on Thursday at around 9.16 p.m. local time by rejecting in totality the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno pair's petition on the presidential election result dispute. After a session that lasted nearly nine hours, the conclusion of the court's final ruling was delivered by the MK Chief Justice Anwar Usman in the presence of lawyers of the two presidential and vice presidential camps and related parties.

The MK's final ruling paved the way for confirming the Joko Widodo-Ma'ruf Amin's victory based on the final tally that the General Elections Commission (KPU) had officially announced on May 21, 2019.

The court's nine judges argued that the Prabowo Sandi camp's allegation that they had discovered structured, systematic, and massive electoral frauds in the presidential election could not legally be proven, and therefore, not legally acceptable.

The Prabowo-Sandi pair had filed a petition with the MK on May 23, 2019, after the KPU announced the final result on May 21, 2019.

The final tally declared by the KPU at around 1:28 a.m. local time on May 21 indicated the Jokowi-Amin pair had secured 85 million votes, or 55.5 percent of the national vote, as against the contenders Prabowo-Sandi's 68 million votes, or 44.5 percent.

The Jokowi-Amin pair had declared victory following the KPU's announcement of the final tally, while the Prabowo-Sandi pair rejected the KPU's official tabulation result and challenged it by filing an official complaint with the MK.

Several hundred supporters of the Prabowo-Sandi pair had staged a peaceful rally Wednesday and Thursday demanding a fair decision from the MK.

The demonstrators thronged the Arjuna Wijaya Statue area on Medan Merdeka Barat Road near the National Monument (Monas) Square in Central Jakarta.

As a precautionary measure following the ruling, 47 thousand security personnel from the police, military, and the Jakarta administration have been deployed to secure the MK building and vital installations in Jakarta.

Taking into account the fact that the elections had resulted in a divisive society, the MK ruling is expected to be a final and binding solution.

To this end, the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), Wednesday, appealed to all elements of the nation, especially Muslims, to accept the ruling.

"The MUI appeals to the people, at large, to accept the court's ruling wholeheartedly and sincerely, as it is final and binding," the council's Deputy Chairman, Zainut Tauhid Saadi, told local journalists on Wednesday. (ant)