VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Three cities in Indonesia, Jakarta, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Banyuwangi in East Java, are proposed to be included in the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN). Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi in Singapore, during a press conference on the 32nd ASEAN Summit, Sunday,  said the concept of ASCN was designed to achieve a shared goal of smart city development in ASEAN network cooperation program.

"Each country delivers three cities and Indonesia proposes Jakarta, Makassar and Banyuwangi," she said.

The foreign affairs minister said that in the plenary of the ASEAN Summit, President Jokowi delivered several things, among others, ASEAN is a centered and people-oriented organization so that people should be the focus in the development of the ASEAN community.

"And innovation to strengthen the ASEAN community in the midst of a very complex urban problem needs to be encouraged, so the ASCN is one of the answers to the challenge," the foreign minister quoted the president as saying.

According to her, it is important for the interest of inclusiveness and innovation. Indonesia itself is developing a 100 smart cities movement in an effort to encourage more effective, transparent and reliable governance. The core of the cooperation in the field of smart city is to encourage the use of technology to advance the city designed in such a way that it is in accordance with the needs and potential of the region.  That is for optimal results for the community and for realizing more effective, transparent and reliable governance. ( antara ) 

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has underscored the need for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to stay alert for cyber attack during the 32nd ASEAN Summit held in Singapore from April 25 to 28.

To that end, ASEAN member states need to work more closely in digital technology and cyber security. he said while addressing a plenary session of the 32nd ASEAN Summit on Friday night.

"We know there has been abuse of personal data by Facebook users. In ASEAN, we need to ensure the framework of cooperation in cyber security which also contains the protection of personal data. Hence, cooperation in the cyber field is a must," he said.

The Indonesian leader went on to say that ASEAN has very large potentials in the e-commerce field.

He predicted Internet users in ASEAN member states will triple to 600 million in 2015.

"E-commerce shopping is projected at almost US$90 billion and total internet-based economy is estimated at US$200 billion," he said.

Hence, ASEAN member states need to establish closer cooperation in developing cyber security policy and capacity building initiative through the ASEAN Cyber Capacity Program, the AMCC, and the ASEAN-Japan Cyber security Capacity Building Center, among others.

In their joint statement, ASEAN leaders underscored the need for ASEAN member states to implement steps and efforts to develop self confidence and adopt general, voluntary, and non-binding norms from the public behavior in order to act responsibly in the cyber world.

The Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) has affirmed that Indonesia is committed to encouraging Bangladesh to become a developing country in South Asian region through cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy, investment, and trade. Director General of National Export Development of the Ministry of Trade, Arlinda, stated that the Indonesian government is ready to cooperate in strategic sectors with Bangladesh through the airport and infrastructure development management.

"President Joko Widodo hopes that the cooperation will boost Bangladesh into a developing country and, together with Indonesia, will improve the welfare of the peoples of both countries through economic, investment, and trade cooperation that benefit both countries," Arlinda stated in a written statement received in Jakarta on Saturday.

The statement was delivered during the business forum activities at Le Meridien Hotel, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The business forum is part of a series of trade missions to Bangladesh, which is a follow-up of Widodo`s visit in January 2018.

For the Bangladesh trade mission, the Ministry of Trade brought 93 business actors from 43 companies in various production sectors or industries, such as oil and gas, CPO, fashion, food and beverage, automotive, property, airport services, furniture, construction, and infrastructure services.

These Indonesian businessmen established trade communications with 122 Bangladeshi buyers, consisting of 103 importing companies and 19 members of Bangladeshi chamber of commerce. The Ministry of Trade organized a trade mission to Bangladesh from April 26 to 28, 2018, as part of an effort to open export markets to non-traditional countries.

These series of trade mission activities consists of business forum, business matching, and support of the implementation of Indonesia Fair 2018 held by Embassy of Dhaka. The business forum in Dhaka serves as a meeting place for Indonesian and Bangladeshi businessmen to get to know each other and establish business relationships.

After the business forum, entrepreneurs from both countries meet in a business matching session to carry out business and investment transactions. The Indonesian delegation also visited the palm oil importer, Meghna Group of Industries (MGI). To strengthen trade cooperation, Arlinda also invited Bangladesh entrepreneurs to participate in Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) from Oct 24 to 28, 2018, at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) BSD, Tangerang.

It also invites Bangladeshi businessmen to travel to various exotic tourist destinations in Indonesia, such as Kuta Beach in Bali, Raja Ampat in Papua, and Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara. (antara) 

Entering 25 years of cooperation between Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), a number of important achievements achieved by the three countries. Starting from the growth of IMT-GT in 2016 which reached 4.4 percent to GDP per capita population in the IMT-GT region that recorded the value of USD14.557 in 2016 from the previous USD11.508 in 2011.

This was conveyed by President Joko Widodo while attending the 11th Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Meeting at Banyan Room, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore.

Even from the side of air connectivity, the number of international airports in the IMT-GT area increased by three times from 9 airports in 1995 to 28 international airports today.

Nevertheless, the President reminded that there are still many tough challenges faced in this region.

"The region and the world today are still haunted by the uncertainty resulting from competition between the big powers and the already existing trade war," said President Jokowi.

Therefore, President Jokowi invites the founding member of ASEAN to make IMT-GT cooperation as building block that gives real contribution to the strengthening of ASEAN.

"We must be equally sure that this cooperation brings concrete and inclusive benefits for our people as well for the people of ASEAN," said President Jokowi.

In order to realize this and promote inclusive growth in the IMT-GT region, President Jokowi proposed a number of steps that must be done immediately. In particular, infrastructure development especially Physical Connectivity Projects (PCP) is believed to facilitate the flow of goods, services, and passengers.

In addition, a number of cooperation in various priority areas should also be continuously improved. Starting from agro-industry, tourism, to the development of digital economy.

President Jokowi also encourages the improvement of skilled, competitive, and able to contribute positively through the Center for IMT-GT Subregional Cooperation (CIMT).

"As a joint secretariat, CIMT should contribute more to the smoothness of cooperation between countries as well as with other international organizations," said President Jokowi.

Accompanying President Jokowi in the meeting were Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita, Moeldoko Presidential Chief of Staff, and Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Singapore I Gede Ngurah Swajaya.