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To encourage the development of Indonesian chess, PT Japfa Comfeed Indonesia Tbk synergized with the Executive Board of the All Indonesian Chess Association (PB Percasi) to hold the JAPFA Grand Master and Women Grand Master Tournament (GM & WGM Tournament) at the Grand Inna Garuda Yogyakarta Hotel June 13-21 2019.

JAPFA's Corporate Affairs Director, Rachmat Indrajaya, said that the JAPFA GM & WGM event was a manifestation of JAPFA's commitment to finding Indonesian superior seeds to win the Grand Master title to continue the journey of GM Utut Adianto and GM Susanto Megaranto.

"Previously JAPFA had supported the Indonesian team for the 3.3 Asian Games Chess Championship Fide Zone in Ulanbataar. In the event, the Indonesian Chess Team won two tickets to the 2019 Chess World Cup," Rachmat Indrajaya told a news conference at the Atlet Century Hotel on Monday (10 / 6/2019).

Rachmat Indrajaya explained, Indonesia needed a young and professional Grand Master to carve the name of Indonesia in the international arena.

"Finding and training superior seeds is the key to the success of Indonesian chess achievements in the future," explained Rachmat Indrajaya.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of PB Percasi, Utut Adianto who accompanied Rachmat Indrajaya said that the JAPFA GM & WGM 2019 will also be followed by Indonesian chess players.

"Through the nine round matches, the Indonesian Chess team can release their best potential to meet capable opponents from Asia and Europe. PB Percasi and JAPFA present GMs with high ratings, Kokarev GMs from Russia who have a 2609 rating, GM Ivan Sokolov ( NED, 2595) to be an opponent of the Indonesian chess team, "Utut Adianto said.

In addition to his hopes of increasing the rating of the young Grand Master, Utut also hopes that this event will become a match for GM Susanto Megaranto and WGM Media Warda Aulia to prepare for the 2019 Chess World Championship.

JAPFA through the social investment department through the JAPFA event The Grand Master & Woman Grand Master Tournament brought together Indonesian chess players with excellent chess players from the continents of Asia and Europe.

"In collaboration with PB Percasi, JAPFA will bring together 12 male chess players and 12 female chess players from Europe and Asia," explained Rachmat Indrajaya. 

In the press conference, there were also Georgia chess players, WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and French origin, WGM Sophie Milliet and Indonesian chess player Medina Warda Aulia. (trbnews)

The Ministry of Industry will create a platform that connects the fashion industry's business ecosystem consisting of raw material suppliers, designers, tailors and the fashion industry in a concept called "Fitting Room". This platform will be created this year as one of the manifestations of digitalization according to the map of Making Indonesia 4.0.

"In addition to integrating the fashion industry supply chain, through this platform it will also provide convenience to consumers in buying fashion products according to their size without having to come to tailors," said Director of Small and Medium Industries (IKM) Chemistry, Clothing, Crafts and Multifarious Industries, Directorate General of Small, Medium and Multifarious Industries (IKMA) Ministry of Industry E. Ratna Utarianingrum in Jakarta, Tuesday (11/6).

Ratna said that the pilot project would be tested first in the fashion IKM in West Java. "We hope that the fashion IKM in other cities can also implement industry 4.0," he said. Moreover, the national fashion industry experiences positive growth every year.

The Ministry of Industry noted, Indonesia managed to export fashion products up to USD14.29 billion in 2018 or an increase of 7.75% from 2017 which only reached USD13.29 billion. "This shows that the Indonesian fashion industry has comparative competitiveness that is quite high in the international market," he explained.

In addition, the fashion industry contributed to the resounding growth in the textile and apparel industry sector in the first quarter of 2019, which recorded the highest position with an achievement of 18.98 percent. This performance exceeded economic growth of 5.07 percent in the same period.

Previously, the Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto revealed that the domestic textile and textile products (TPT) industry was able to be competitive globally because it had high competitiveness. This is encouraged because the industrial structure has been integrated from upstream to downstream and its products are also known to have good quality in the international market.

"With economic growth and a shift in demand from basic clothing to functional clothing such as sportswear, the national textile industry needs to build production capabilities and increase economies of scale in order to meet demand in the domestic and export markets," he said.

Meanwhile, Director General IKMA of the Ministry of Industry, Gati Wibawaningsih, said that the government was aware that Indonesian IKM products had an increasing market. Therefore, activists of IKM, including the fashion sector, are one of the spearheads of popular economy that is resistant to the global economic crisis.

"For this reason, the Ministry of Industry continues to develop IKM through various programs, including increasing HR competencies, developing product quality, standardizing, facilitating machinery or equipment and promoting and exhibiting batik at home and abroad," he said.

Gati added, in order to increase market access for IKM players, the Ministry of Industry has an IKM e-Smart program that cooperates with several marketplaces. Through this e-Smart program IKM products are encouraged to enter the online market, so that it has a wider market reach because it can be accessed by consumers from various regions.

"We also encourage IKM players to obtain various financing facilities such as KUR, and other banking or non-banking financing institutions to strengthen their capital structure. Thus, it is expected that the national IKM can grow significantly and its competitiveness increase," he added.

Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya has asked the Minister of Trade to revise Trade Ministerial Regulation No. 31 of 2016 concerning Provisions on the Import of Non-Hazardous and Toxic Waste to prevent the entry of illegal imported plastic waste.

"If it is not legal, surely that is the aspect for supervision. We do expect a lot from Customs, but in terms of prevention we have asked the Minister of Trade to revise trade ministerial regulation No 31 of 2016," Siti said on Monday.

"This has also been discussed several times at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs. I have already sent a letter to the Minister of Trade, and the Ministry is processing the revision of the Trade Ministerial Regulation," said Siti.

"The Trade Ministerial Regulation must be more specific, considering the definition of garbage, plastic and paper has been long-debated with the ministries of industry and trade," she said.

During this time, she continued, import permits were issued from the Ministry of Trade and recommendations were received from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

This is not the first time Indonesia has witnessed the illegal entry of plastic waste. In 2015-2016, some 40 containers were returned to their home countries by Indonesian government.

Environmental activist from Bali Fokus, Mochamad Adi Septiono, also said that Indonesia should anticipate the impact of China's National Sword policy, which strictly limits the import of plastic waste. China previously took in 45.1 percent of the world's waste, but since March 2018 it has limited imports of garbage.

"The garbage produced by countries such as America is usually sent to China, now that China has implemented its policy, ASEAN countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, are being targeted," he said. (ant) 

Indonesia will re-export illegal plastic waste entering the country, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said, following news of the illegal import of plastic waste in Gresik, East Java.

"The waste that enters Indonesia, which has plastic, is definitely not legal. And basically the provisions are there, therefore we will perform a re-export," Nurbaya said in Jakarta on Monday.

The import of illegal plastic waste is not a new problem. From 2015 to 2016, Indonesia re-exported dozens of containers of plastic waste.

According to Nurbaya, the steps for re-exporting are currently being discussed at the level of director general of related ministries, including Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Trade Ministry, as well as the Finance Ministry's Customs and Excise Office.

Waste in the form of plastic chips mixed with paper that cannot be recycled, as well as plastic waste whose shapes vary in the form of bottles, sachets, food packaging, personal care and household products, have been found in Gresik.

According to Indonesian Center for Environmental Law researcher Fajri Fadillah, imports of plastic waste in Gresik are prohibited and punishable as crimes, based upon Article 29 Paragraph (1) Letter B, in conjunction with Article 37 Paragraph (1) of Law Number 18 Year 2008 concerning Waste Management.

"Officials must investigate the case of importing plastic waste. In addition, the Trade Minister must revoke import approvals for paper producer importers who do not report the plastic waste they import. Furthermore, applications for import approvals must be reviewed by the Trade Minister by consulting the Environment and Forestry Ministry," Fadillah said.

He also said that the implementation of two rules regarding imported waste, Law Number 18 of 2008 concerning Waste Management and Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) Number 31 / M-DAG / PER / 5/2016 concerning Import of Non-Hazardous and Toxic Waste to control the import of waste, needs to be monitored.

Related news: Minister has waste regulation revised to avoid illegal imports

"The government needs to re-evaluate companies that have plastic and paper scrap import licenses, to learn whether they are acting in accordance with licensing, and whether their practices pollute the environment," Fadillah said.

In 2018, data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed an increase of 141 percent (283,152 tons) in imports of plastic waste in Indonesia.

This figure was the highest for imports of plastic waste in the past 10 years. In 2013, the import of plastic waste was some 124,433 tons. However, the increase in imports is not in balance with export figures, as export figures declined 48 percent (98,450 tons) in 2018.

This figure indicates that there are 184,702 tons of waste still in Indonesia, beyond the burden of domestic waste management in the country itself, Fadillah said.

Environmental activist from Bali Fokus, Mochamad Adi Septiono, also said that Indonesia should anticipate the impact of China's National Sword policy, which strictly limits the import of plastic waste. China previously took in 45.1 percent of the world's waste, but since March 2018 it has limited imports of garbage.

"The garbage produced by countries such as America is usually sent to China, now that China has implemented its policy, ASEAN countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, are being targeted," he said. (ant)