VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia’s Tourism Minister has expressed hope that the reopening of Bali`s Ngurah Rai International Airport would encourage six countries to revoke the travel advisories they issued against Indonesia.

"We wish to announce that the I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport has been officially reopened as of June 29, 2018 at 2:30 p.m., Central Indonesia Standard Time (WITA)," Arief Yahya, the Minister of Tourism, said in a statement in Jakarta on Friday. "So, to the countries that have issued travel advisories, please revise them immediately."

Earlier, six countries -- the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and France --published travel advisories following the eruption of Gunung Agung.

As of 2.35 p.m. local time on Friday, the six countries` travel advisories were still in place.

"The reopening of the Ngurah Rai Airport will normalize flight schedules to help travelers recover from flight delays," Arief explained.

The airport, which serves as the biggest gateway for foreign tourists entering the country, will operate for 24 hours until conditions return to normal.

"Thanks to Angkasa Pura I (port operator) and to the transportation ministry (Kemenhub) for being proactive in thinking about our customers, the tourists who go to Bali," the minister said.

Arief lamented the extended effect of a travel advisory, saying it applies to an entire country even if the danger is confined to only one or two provinces.

"Therefore, the impact can be nationwide if the advisory is not immediately revised," he added. (ANTARA)

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed, during a visit to Indonesia, met President Joko Widodo at the Bogor Palace to discuss issues related to governance, corruption eradication, connectivity, border settlement, and politics.

"I have already discussed with him and the delegation. In essence, we share the same commitment to ensure good governance, which is about eradication of corruption, and on the issue of the importance of connectivity and border-related settlements. We will discuss it one-by-one at the ministerial-level forums," President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) noted during a joint press statement with Prime Minister Mahathir in Bogor, on Friday.

The president believes that both countries will be able to reap the benefits of cooperation and be able to solve border issues.

He also revealed that at the meeting, Prime Minister Mahathir made assurance of offering protection to Indonesian workers staying in Malaysia.

"We also spoke about the construction of schools for Indonesian children in Malaysia," he stated.

He remarked that Indonesia and Malaysia also shared the same commitment on prioritizing settlement through dialog based on international laws.

Prime Minister Mahathir is optimistic that friendship and cooperation between Indonesia and Malaysia would increase due to its several advantages in the fields of politics and economics and also relations between nations.

"We face the same problem, for instance, oil and palm oil exports. We are threatened by Europe, and we need to fight them together," he pointed out.

Indonesia and Malaysia need to jointly fight their campaign that states entrepreneurs obtain palm oil from plantations in forest areas and in the process fail to protect the environment.

"It is not true at all," he remarked.

The Malaysian prime minister further said that palm oil is competing with petroleum, so it concerns economic and financial issues rather than environmental ones.

Speaking in connection with education for children of migrant workers, the Malaysian prime minister vowed to guarantee their education.

"Children of migrants need to be educated. There are some schools in our peninsula, but in Sabah Sarawak, there are no schools for Indonesian children to study. We will fix this problem soon," he noted.

Moreover, for border issues, Mahathir agreed to an approach to resolve the overlapping issue of Malaysia and Indonesia.

"We have agreed on an approach to handle this issue. We need to accept that cooperation exists between Indonesia and Malaysia, as the latter is cooperating with Thailand where we have a joint development area," he explained.

Mahathir also remarked that President Jokowi`s visit in 2015 was related to the possibility of building a Malaysian-Indonesian train that may be operated throughout the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"For certain reasons, we could not continue it. However, now, I visit this country to continue to address that issue," he remarked.

The Malaysian prime minister also revealed that Indonesia and Malaysia faced similar problems in terms of domestic political issues.

"We also discussed about our domestic politics, and that the problems faced in Indonesia are bigger than those in Malaysia. Of course we are speaking about our ways to deal with political problems in this democracy, he added. (ANTARA)

Dutch Foreign Minister Stefanus Abraham Blok or Stef Blok will visit Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java from July 2nd to 4th to hold a Bilateral Meeting with Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi. Director of Europe I Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dino Kusnadi told in a press conference held in Jakarta on Thursday, June 28th that the bilateral meeting between the two Foreign Ministers is very important because both countries have Comprehensive Partnership Agreement.

“The Dutch Foreign Minister, Stef Blok will arrive in Indonesia, Jakarta on June 2nd and will leave Jakarta on June 4th to hold a bilateral meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and a number of other Indonesian officials. This visit is the first visit after Stef Blok serves as Foreign Minister earlier this year. We consider this visit to be very important because of Indonesia's dynamic relationship with the Netherlands. Indeed Indonesia and the Netherlands have relationships as a comprehensive partner or strategic partner,” said Dino Kusnadi.

Dino Kusnadi further added that the bilateral visit will be a good opportunity for Indonesia and the Netherlands to evaluate the strategic partnerships that have been built comprehensively for about five years. In addition, the two Foreign Ministers will discuss issues related to de-radicalism, extremism, countermeasures against terrorism, drug control and cyber space and cyber security in depth. The two Foreign Ministers will also discuss the conflict in Rohingya and Syria, and share experiences as members of the UNSC Security Council. Economic issues related to Crude Palm Oil and FLEGT timber trade mechanisms (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) will be discussed in the meeting. (VOI/Rezha/DP)

The British government is working to improve cooperation with countries outside the European Union region following the signing of the British Exit or Brexit Act by Queen Elizabeth II Monday, 26 June. Therefore, UK Government is currently working to improve its cooperation with Indonesia as one of the countries that have an important role in Asia and the world as a whole. This was conveyed by British Ambassador to Indonesia, Moazzam Malik on the sidelines of the celebration of the 92nd anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II in Jakarta, Thursday evening, June 28th.

“So, next year UK will leave EU, one of the reasons is to break free, increase cooperation with countries outside the European Union, especially major Asian countries such as Indonesia. Indonesia has an important role for the world economy, for world peace. UK is interested, committed to strengthening relations with Indonesia to maintain peace, Moazzam Malik said.

Ambassador Moazzam malik added that Indonesia and the UK will celebrate the 70th diplomatic relations in 2019. This can certainly be a good momentum to improve cooperation between the two countries. Currently, the UK Government itself has offered some cooperation to the Government of Indonesia in various fields. One of them is an offer of cooperation in the field of manpower submitted to Indonesian Minister of Manpower Hanif Dhakiri on Tuesday, June 26th. Such employment cooperation deals include vocational training, English language training, professional certification, and the prevention of human trafficking. (VOI/Rezha/DP)