VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The governments of Bandung City and Melbourne City, represented by officials from each city signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MSP) at Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne City, last Monday (22/4). The MSP was signed by the Mayor of Melbourne, Sally Capp AO. The person in charge (PJ) of the Mayor of Bandung, Bambang Tirtoyuliono has signed the document separately in Bandung. The signing activity was also witnessed by the Indonesian Consul General for Victoria and Tasmania, Kuncoro Giri Waseso, Assistant for Economic and Development of Bandung City, Eric Mohamad Atthauriq, and a group of Bandung City Government delegates.

In a statement from the Indonesian Consulate General in Melbourne received on Wednesday (24/4/2024), it was stated that the MSP was intended to form cooperation and develop effective and mutually beneficial friendly relations. "There are five areas of cooperation agreed upon, namely Smart Cities; Economy and Trade; Higher Education, Training and Capacity Building; Livable Cities and City Resilience," the Consulate wrote.

After the signing of the MSP, the Bandung and Melbourne governments held a meeting to discuss education cooperation, the development of innovation and pioneering companies, the existence of multicultural communities, and the use of technology in city management. "Both parties also agreed that the newly signed MSP should be able to strengthen the cooperation that has existed so far," wrote the Indonesian Consulate General in Melbourne.

Before the MSP was signed, the two cities already implement active cooperation, including through the Bandung-Melbourne Innovation Event Social Impact in 2022; Participation of the Bandung City Government in the Victoria Cleantech Expo 2021; Collaboration of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the State Government of Victoria, and the City Government of Melbourne in organizing E-Commerce and Cybersecurity Training for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) which was attended by 25 SMEs and MSMEs in Bandung in 2020; Webinar on Respective Responses to the COVID-19 Situation in West Java and Melbourne in 2020; Signing of the 2019 City to City Cooperation Letter of Intent (LoI); and, Sending the winner of the 2019 Bandung-Melbourne Datathon to Melbourne for incubation in 2019. As an implementation of the MSP, both Bandung and Melbourne will share experiences related to the organization of city day operations, pitch competitions, knowledge exchange, cultural arts cooperation, student exchange, and two-way trade and investment promotion.

Prior to the signing, the Indonesian Consulate General in Melbourne also facilitated a meeting between the Bandung City Government Delegation and the Indonesian Culinary Association of Victoria (ICAV), an association of Indonesian business people and gastronomists in Victoria. During the meeting, both parties discussed future collaborations, including the Bandung City Government's participation in gastronomy promotion activities in Victoria, exploring business opportunities such as the export of spices and handicrafts from Bandung, and the expansion of restaurants from Bandung. (Daniel).

VOInews, Jakarta: H.E. Armin Limo, the ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Indonesia, calls Muslims to focus on unity rather than exaggerating differences between schools and differences. H.E. Armin Limo shared his view about Islam in an interview with Syafiq Hasyim on IIIU's Guest program on Thursday (18/4/2024). Ambassador Armin Limo emphasized that Islam is religion of love, compassion, and forgiveness.

“I think we should focus more on unity because Islam is the one. I also don't like when somebody say moderate Islam or radical Islam, because IsIam is only one. IsIam is religion of love, compassion and forgiveness,” uttered Ambassador Armin Limo.

Misunderstandings about Islam, especially the impression of violence and intolerance, according to Ambassador Armin Limo, arise from unscrupulous parties who misuse Islam for their pragmatic interests.

“And there are only people unfortunately radical, extremists who misused Islam in their agenda which has got nothing to do with Islam in the end” said Ambassador Armin Limo.

To present Islam as a religion of love, Ambassador Armin Limo invited Muslims to focus more on unity and not magnify differences that could divide the ummah.

“So we should all follow our religion alhamdulillah which is unique in the world, and not too focus on our differences, or misinterpretation, or other things that only break the unity among us unfortunately," concluded Ambassador Armin Limo. (Daniel)

VOInews, Jakarta: Bosnia and Herzegovina's ambassador to Indonesia, H.E. Armin Limo, has a unique perspective on Indonesia. H.E. Armin Limo shared his experiences about Indonesia in an interview with Syafiq Hasyim on IIIU's Guest program on Thursday (18/4/2024). Among these, Ambassador Armin Limo expressed his admiration for the hospitality of the Indonesian people.

"I really mean that I went to many countries so far, this is almost the end of my diplomatic career, I was in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Serbia, and some other countries, but this country, this people is something really I have never experienced so far in my career and I thank God. People are so nice, so kind, so friendly, so humble, so that is unprecedented in my diplomatic career. (...) I like people, I like the country, I like food, I like the weather. Many people are complaining about the weather here being too hot, or too humid, for me it is not. It is perfect, I hate winter, I hate snow so all and all I like it very much indeed except traffic jump" said Ambassador Armin Limo.

Upon the talk about people-to-people diplomacy, Ambassador Armin Limo said that Bosnia-Herzegovina citizens consider Indonesians people as their brothers. Indonesia was among the first countries to recognize Bosnia-Herzegovina's independence. In 1995, Indonesia's second President Soeharto visited Bosnia-Herzegovina amid a war to show sympathy for Bosnian Muslims who were targeted in the conflict. Likewise, Madam Megawati visited Bosnia in 2002 to further strengthen the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"We have very good political relation, because Indonesia was helping us during the war and after the war, and our people back home in Bosnia, they know that and they feel that Indonesians are our friends and brothers, and they will never forget that,” added Ambassador Armin Limo. (Daniel).

FILE PHOTO: A man walks under an electronic screen showing Japan's Nikkei share price index inside a conference hall 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo - 

VOInews, TOKYO/LONDON : World stocks recovered some losses on Monday and bonds, oil and gold dipped as investors reversed some of their more defensive positions taken going into the weekend on fears of a wider Middle East conflict.

The week ahead is packed with corporate earnings, with 158 companies in the S&P 500 and 173 companies in the STOXX 600 reporting first quarter results this week according to data from LSEG workspace.

These include several big European banks, as well as U.S. tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet, with the latter in particular focus after chip maker Nvidia's 10 per cent drop on Friday, its biggest percentage fall in four years.

Crucial U.S. PCE inflation data, the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge, due Friday, finishes off the week. After CPI data earlier this month, markets currently see the first Fed rate cut coming in September.

Ahead of all that, shares rose on Monday, with the STOXX 600 up 0.25 per cent and S&P 500 futures 0.36 per cent higher after MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8 per cent. All fell on Friday.

London's commodities-heavy FTSE100 rose around 1 per cent the biggest gainer among large Europpean benchmarks, as tin and nickel rose to new muulti-month highs. [.L][MET/L]

It was outpaced by a 2.3 per cent gain for the Portugese index as oil company Galp Energia had a STOXX 600 topping 17 per cent jump after saying a field off Namibia could contain 10 bln barrels of oil. [.EU]

In a further reversal of Friday's "rise off" mood, gold eased back from near its peaks, U.S. Treasury yields ticked higher and crude oil prices declined as the potential for a major supply disruption waned.

In recent weeks, investors have taken cautious positions on Fridays fearing an escalation in the conflict in the Middle East over the weekend when markets are closed and they are unable to trade.

"It seems neither Israel nor Iran want an escalation in the crisis in the Middle East ... and with a subsequent strike from either side not looking like it's coming, investor concerns have eased somewhat," said Kazuo Kamitani, a strategist at Nomura Securities.

However, Kamitani said expectations of later Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and concerns about chip sector earnings will continue to keep investors on their toes.

Iran said on Friday that it had no plan to retaliate following an apparent Israeli drone attack within its borders, which in turn followed an Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel days before.

HAVEN OUTFLOWS

Bond yields - which climb when prices fall - rose back toward multi-month highs.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was last up 3 basis points to 4.64 per cent, heading back toward the five-month peak of 4.696 per cent reached last week on the view that the Fed would be in no hurry to ease policy amid robust economic data and sticky inflation. [US/]

European yields also edged higher. [GVD/EUR]

The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, eased 0.05 per cent to 106.05. It was also at a five-month top last week, at 106.51.

"As long as there is this uncertainty about the cutting cylce particularly in the U.S, its interesting for investors to be in dollar longs because of its dual status as a high yielding currency and also a defensive currency," said Yvan Berthoux FX strategist at UBS.

Gold slid 1.3 per cent to $2,358.75, retreating from near the all-time peak of $2,431.29 earlier in the month. [GOL/]

Crude oil fell as traders put the focus back on fundamentals with a rise in U.S. stockpiles as the backdrop

Brent futures fell 137 cents, or 1.56 per cent to $85.92 a barrel. [O/R]//Reuters, CNA-VOI