VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews.id, Jakarta: The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Jakarta held a dinner to commemorate Heydar Aliyev's 100th birthday. The event took place on Friday (22/12/2023) evening at the Fairmont Hotel, Jakarta. Heydar Aliyev was the country's third president, considered by the Azerbaijani government as the founder of the modern Azerbaijani state.

VOInews, Jakarta: Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi held a bilateral meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on Friday (22/12/2023). During the meeting, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding with the Strategic Partnership.

"The increase in the status of this partnership reflects the commitment of the two countries to further strengthen and expand bilateral cooperation in strategic and significant sectors, such as politics and security, regional and global cooperation, economic partnership, development cooperation, including triangular cooperation, then socio-cultural cooperation as well as consular and immigration cooperation," Foreign Minister Retno said in a statement received in Jakarta Friday (22/12/2023).

During the meeting, according to Retno, Indonesia encouraged the acceleration of Preferential Trade Arrangement (PTA) negotiations, including encouraging cooperation in the halal industry and vaccine production. According to Retno, Indonesia-Morocco trade volume continues to show a positive trend with an average increase of 13.34% in the last five years.

"Indonesia encourages the holding of preliminary meetings as a way to pave the way and the first step for both parties to start negotiations," Retno said.

Similar cooperation is also encouraged in the halal industry. Foreign Minister Retno said the two countries have the potential for cooperation in the halal sector including exploring cooperation in recognizing halal certification for food, medicine, and cosmetic products and opening markets for Indonesian Muslim fashion products.

In addition, the two countries also discussed phosphate cooperation for the fertilizer industry. "Morocco has more than 70 percent of the world's phosphate reserves and is one of the suppliers of fertilizer raw materials for various countries in the world," Retno said.

Another thing that was also discussed in the meeting between Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita was socio-cultural cooperation, especially education and religious tolerance. She said that Indonesia and Morocco have close cooperation in the field of education, especially the provision of scholarships and the improvement of human resources.

"In the future, Indonesia and Morocco will continue to strengthen people-to-people contact, including by increasing tourist visits, cultural exchanges, and encouraging contacts and networks between religious leaders, especially to encourage tolerance and moderate Islamic values and rahmatan lil alamiin," she explained.

Book review to commemorate Mother's Day - 

Voinews, Jakarta - The 95th anniversary of Mother's Day at the National Library was marked by a book review discussing Women's Empowerment. The momentum for equality and the role of women and mothers in development is visible in how to prepare the nation's superior generation

The 6th century BC Chinese philosopher, Confucius, stated that children's harmony, intelligence and intimacy require stimulation from the family.

“When the family is weak, the state is weak. Also, if the family is strong, the country is strong. "And children's motor intelligence comes from the family, in this case the role of the mother," explained Deputy for Library Resource Development Adin Bondar when opening a book review to commemorate Mother's Day, on Friday (22/12/2023).

As an educational space, the library is an open space, so the good practices carried out through the social inclusion-based library transformation program (TPBIS) have an impact on family economic growth.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Friday, The role of libraries in empowering and assisting women and mothers is an integrated movement so that women receive honor and recognition for themselves as actors in development.

The author of the book 'Women's Empowerment is a Praise for Wise Wives', Sisca Buniaty Manik, said that the initial idea for her to write the book began with stories and experiences from people around her who experienced violence and did not receive fair treatment from their partners.

“This book is cross-gender. "When the wife treats her well, the husband is obliged to give praise so that family harmony is created," said Sisca.

Women naturally help their husbands and the household, from managing finances, tidiness, to cleaning the house. Women are analogous to helpers who deserve praise.

“If women can be glorified, then that is something great. This book describes the ideal husband or wife too perfectly. "Even though in reality this is not always the case," said the Head of the Informatics Study Program from Bakrie University, Hoga Saragih, one of the book discussants.

Well, this book captures the ideal side of God's creatures who were created differently but whose position is equal. Eastern cultural societies often provide the perspective that men occupy high degrees.

Moreover, it is strengthened by the patriarchal understanding that has been passed down from generation to generation through the hands of women who have not received real education about equality, so it is wrong to instill this understanding in children.

“Mother is the first and foremost educator. If a mother's work at home were made into a professional job, how much would she be paid? "It's definitely priceless," concluded observer and activist for the protection of women and children, Imelda Berwanty Purba//VOI

VOINews.id, Jakarta: Indonesian president, Joko Widodo is optimistic about economic conditions in Indonesia in 2024. The President even named 2024 as the year "full of optimism", because according to him Indonesia has the capital to be optimistic.