VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Collective efforts of the government, business circles and the community are considered successful in maintaining the sustainability of peatlands and oil palm. This was raised in a seminar entitled "Peat Contribution and Sustainable Palm Oil in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals" organized by the Indonesian Embassy in Oslo (28/6) in the Norwegian Business Confederation meeting building (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon / NHO) in Oslo, Norway. The seminar was attended by around 80 (eighty) participants from government, academia, business, and NGOs in Norway.

The Indonesian Ambassador to Norway and Iceland, Todung Mulya Lubis, said that the seminar aimed to provide the Norwegian public with the latest understanding of the contribution of the sustainable palm oil and peat head industry to efforts to achieve the targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Indonesia.

"Indonesia's success in preserving oil palm and peat cannot be separated from the collective work of the government, business, and society," said Ambassador Mulya Lubis. "The visit of the Minister of Climate and Environment of Norway to West Papua in February 2019, can witness firsthand the success of Indonesia in preserving the environment. Indonesia can intensify sustainable palm production without reducing the area of ​​forests in West Papua. "

Present as a speaker was Nazir Foead, Head of the Peat Restoration Agency (BRG); Dono Boestami, President Director of the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP-KS); Vemund Olsen, Rainforest Foundation Norway; Prof. Yanto Santosa, Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB); Togar Sitanggang, Deputy General Chair of the Indonesian Palm Oil Businessmen Association (GAPKI); Kristine Vergli Grant-Carlsen, CEO of St1 Norway energy company; Axel Heiberg-Andersen, Corporate Communication Manager of Nestlé Norway; Prof. Pietro Paganini, John Cabot University, Rome; and moderator Pål Davidsen from Rud Pedersen.

Marit Vea, Political Advisor for Norway's Minister of Climate and Environment, said that Norway and Indonesia needed to find a solution to the palm oil issue. "We have managed to find a common interest in the REDD + environmental cooperation program and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)," said Marit Vea.

As is known, the Norwegian Parliament in 2017 issued a resolution to reduce the use of palm oil in circulating biodiesel products in Norway. On the other hand, Indonesia continues to strive for the quality of sustainable palm oil, one of which is through the biodiesel program.

"Indonesia is developing technology to convert palm oil into bio-hydrocarbon fuel to produce green diesel, green gasoline and green avtur," said Dono Boestami, Managing Director of BPDP-KS.

Rainforest Foundation Norway, NGOs that are critical of environmental policies in Indonesia actually appreciate the success of environmental preservation in the country lately. "This achievement needs to be appreciated, but a long-term policy is needed to maintain a good trend in environmental preservation in Indonesia," Vemund Olsen said.

Responding to this, the Head of BRG, Nazir Foead, revealed Indonesia's secrets of successfully reducing forest fire hotspots. "Indonesia is developing a peatland monitoring system technology called peatland resotration information and montoring system (PRIMS), which is integrated, online, and directly connected with the Office of the President of the Republic of Indonesia," said Nazir Foead.

Meanwhile, Prof. Yanto Santosa from IPB presented statistical data and historical facts that oil palm is not a direct cause of deforestation of tropical rainforests in Indonesia. The loss of tropical rainforests was drastically caused by transmigration policies in the 1960s, the issuance of Forest Concession Rights (HPH) in the 1970s, and massive forest fires. "The transmigration commodity was not originally oil palm, but coffee, chocolate, candlenut, pepper, and other plantation products. But people tend to compare between past and present only, but forget about the history. Instead, the oil palm planted began contributing to greening of deforested forests in the 1980s, "said the Professor of IPB.

Furthermore, ST1 Norway's energy company claimed at least 40% of the total biofuel was used in the Nordic region. Unfortunately, deforestation has resulted in palm oil getting a serious rejection in Norway. This was justified by Nestle Norway, which became the target of Greenpeace's environmental campaign in 2010. Since then, Nestle has been a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and targets 100% using certified palm oil products in 2020. (indonesian embassy Oslo) 

Ummi Fisabilillah, Women's Master Fide is one of the cornerstones of Indonesia at the junior Asian chess championship titled the Asian Junior Chess Championship 2019 which will be held from June 30 to July 9 in Surakarta or Solo. In the same championship last year, Indonesia managed to be a champion when International Master (MI) Novendra Priasmoro won the standard chess number. But this time Novendra is no longer participating because he will concentrate on participating in the chess championship series in Europe. To RRI, Ummi Fisabilillah claimed that she was ready to fight at the Asian Junior Chess Championship.

“I’ve been surely prepared since a long time, undergoing more training and practices, and practice again,” Umi said.

Not only preparing, the 19-year-old chess player also targets to win the title or at least the top three so she can get an International Women's Master. At present Ummi Fisabilillah has gained two Indonesian Master norms for women and she only needs one more norm to move fully into the International Women's Masters.

“More enthusiasm is sure. This is already the second one. So I must keep being enthusiastic so that I can get all the three norms faster. Moreover, I will join the Asian Junior. So it's a chance too. The 1st winner will win the title. The 2nd winner wins the norm. If possible, the target is the top second,” Umi further said.

Previously, in the Japfa Woman Grand Master tournament in Yogyakarta, there were two female chess players who got the norm. They are the Woman International Master Chelsie Monica Sihite who has Woman Grand Master and Ummi Fisabilillah who gets the Women's International Master norm. // Rosihan Anwar RRI reports. (RRI / ROSIHAN / AHM)

Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Georgievna Vorobieva said the bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields are getting stronger and closer. This was conveyed by Lyudmila at the reception of the Russian National Day in Jakarta on Friday (06/28/2019). According to her, the leaders of the two countries have built very good political dialogue.

“It is a great satisfaction that we know, that Russian-Indonesian relations are becoming stronger, closer and more diverse. Our leaders have established an excellent political dialog in a personal context. Bilateral trade is on the rise, defense cooperation, interaction in the sphere of security show positive dynamics. Inter-parliamentary and inter-religious context brings our people closer together,” said Ambassador Lyudmila.

On this occasion, Ambassador Lyudmila on behalf of the Russian government in Jakarta expressed her congratulations on the re-election of Joko Widodo as President of the Republic of Indonesia. Russia believes both countries will be able to carry out joint projects within the framework of Vision 2045 launched by President Joko Widodo. Attending the reception of the Russian National Day in Jakarta, Friday, were Indonesian Coordinating Minister for the Economy Darmin Nasution, Minister of Marine and Fisheries Affairs Susi Pujiastuti, as well as several Foreign Ambassadors in Jakarta. (VOI / AHM)

Russia is a strategic and important partner for Indonesia. For almost 70 years, Indonesia and Russia have maintained, not only the bonds of friendship and close cooperation but also historical relations. This was conveyed by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Darmin Nasution at the reception of the 27th Russian National Day in Jakarta, Friday (06/28/2019). Minister Darmin Nasution underlined the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation relations in the future. He said the two countries had benefited from several mechanisms for formal bilateral relations through 3 pillars of cooperation.

"Let me take this opportunity to underline the importance of strengthening future bilateral cooperation. We have been benefited from the several existing formal bilateral mechanism passing 3 pillars of cooperation namely political and security, economic trade, and investment, as well as social-cultural, " said Darmin Nasution.

Furthermore Coordinating Minister for the Economy Darmin Nasution the economic cooperation between the two countries that has been carried out includes, among others, strategic investments in infrastructure, energy, and transportation.

On the occasion, Darmin congratulated the National Day of the Russian Federation and hoped that the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries in February 2020 could further strengthen bilateral relations and partnerships that have been going on for a long time. (VOI / AHM)