VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), Arief Prasetyo Adi (second from the right), during a meeting with the Indonesian Ambassador to India, Ina Hagniningtyas Krisnamurthi (second from the left), in New Delhi, India, on Monday (December 18, 2023). (ANTARA/HO-Bapanas/rst) - 

The National Food Agency (Bapanas) is exploring cooperation with India to strengthen food availability and thereby, stabilize food prices in Indonesia. Bapanas head Arief Prasetyo Adi visited New Delhi, India, to discuss the cooperation with the Indonesian Ambassador to India, Ina Hagniningtyas Krisnamurthi.

"The Indonesian government aims to ensure food availability and stabilize food prices for domestic interests and trade balance. This goal requires support from many parties and stakeholders, including the support of friendly countries," Adi said in a statement received on Tuesday.

His visit to India was prompted by the Indian government's restrictions on trade. Indonesia needs rice supplies from India to strengthen domestic rice stocks.

Earlier, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) directed the agency to ensure the availability of Government Rice Reserve (CBP) stock of 3 million tons. As of December 5, 2023, CBP stocks controlled by state-run logistic company Bulog stood at just 1.5 million tons.

"This visit is part of Indonesia's efforts to ensure that food availability in Indonesia comes from the best sources at competitive prices. This visit also aims to optimize cooperation with various parties in providing domestic food," Adi said.

Besides reviewing cooperation related to rice supply, he also persuaded India to fulfill the availability of 150 thousand tons of buffalo meat for domestic needs.

During the meeting, Ambassador Krisnamurthi conveyed the need to increase investment in Indonesia to encourage advanced development.

Besides meeting with the ambassador, Adi was scheduled to visit Lulu Mall and the meat processing industry in Lucknow. He will also go to Aurangabad and Mumbai to complete several agendas related to food in India. 

To maintain food prices in Indonesia, the government is distributing CBP to the community to keep the prices from soaring due to crop harvest failure caused by El Nino//ANT-VOI

Illustration : Green Economy - 

Voinews, Jakarta - The implementation of the green economy is not an obstacle, but a new opportunity for future economic growth, said deputy for economy at the Ministry of National Development Planning, Amalia Adiningrat Widyasanti, on Tuesday.

"When we implement the green economy massively and thoroughly, it will definitely create a new opportunity for Indonesia's economic activities, contributing to economic growth acceleration," she said.

Widyasanti made the statement at the launch of the "Policy Brief of Greenpeace Indonesia and CELIOS: The Fate of the Green Economy Transition in the Political Year".

She explained that in the national long-term plan for 2025–2045, the transition to a green economy involves several main focuses.

The first focus is transitioning toward clean and renewable energy, with the renewable energy mix targeted to reach around 60 percent by 2045.

Second, implementing environmentally friendly transportation, or green transportation. Third, applying a circular economy to industries and people's daily lives.

"The implementation of the green economy is a main focus of the Golden Indonesia (vision), starting from 2025 to 2045, as an integral part of Indonesia's economic transformation efforts," she said.

Regarding the challenges, she emphasized the need to make the necessary preparations, including increasing human resources, adopting clean technology, and expanding the supporting ecosystem through policies and regulations that support the green economy in various sectors.

"Implementing a green economy requires major changes that must be supported by a good ecosystem and joint efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth for the next 20 years," she said.

Several policies, such as increasing energy efficiency, a just energy transition, developing smart grids, and implementing a circular economy, are considered the basis for those changes.

Widyasanti also emphasized the importance of providing fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for environmentally friendly products.

She added that the green economy push is not only limited to the energy transition, but also extends to strengthening other pillars to achieve sustainable economic growth in the next two decades.

Therefore, Indonesia is strengthening its commitment to embrace the green economy as a foundation for economic growth in the future, she added//ANT-VOI

VOInews, Jakarta: The Ministry of Trade urges all franchise businesses to have a franchise registration certificate (STPW). Septo Soepriyatno, Director of Business Development for Distribution Actors at the Ministry of Trade, said that a business cannot be called a franchise if it does not have an STPW.

According to Septo, the designation of a company as a franchise is regulated in Government Regulation No. 42/2007 on Franchising and Minister of Trade Regulation No. 71/2019 on Franchising.

"Franchise companies are required to have STWP. If there is no STWP, the company is not a franchise," Septo said through a written statement in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Government Regulation No. 42/2007 Article 10 paragraph (1) states that franchisors must register a franchise offering prospectus before entering into a franchise agreement with the franchisee.

Meanwhile, Minister of Trade Regulation 71/2019 Article 10 states that franchisors, advanced franchisors, franchisees, and advanced franchisees are required to have STPW. MOT 71/2019 Article 3 states that individuals or business entities are prohibited from using franchise terms and/or names for their business names and/or activities, if they do not meet the franchise criteria.

Septo mentioned that the criteria for franchising include, among others, having business characteristics, proven to have provided benefits, having standards for services and goods and/or services offered that are made in writing, easy to teach and apply, continuous support, and registered intellectual property rights (IPR).

If an individual or business entity violates the provisions in Permendag 71/2019 Article 3, he said, administrative sanctions will be imposed in the form of recommendations for revocation of business licenses and/or operational/commercial licenses to the issuing official in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations. This is regulated in Permendag 71/2019 Article 32.

"For this reason, the mention of a franchise business must fulfill these provisions and cannot be used for companies that do not have an STPW," Septo said.(ANTARA)

VOInews, Jakarta: Vice Presidential candidate number 3 Mahfud Md assessed that the problem of rampant corruption is the main root of the inequality of economic growth in various parts of Indonesia to this day.

"Why is it still unequal now? Why has growth not yet touched six percent? The theory that can explain it all is because Indonesia has too much corruption," Mahfud said in the NTT Diaspora Dialogue with Prof. Mahfud MD in Jakarta, Tuesday (19/12/2023).

Mahfud believes that Indonesia's economy has the potential to grow more than six percent annually, but corruption cases that the government has not been able to overcome have created an imbalance between natural resources and human resource managers.

"For example, I noted that in the last four years the cases I handled alone involved Rp701 trillion in corruption," he said. This imbalance practically makes economic growth in Indonesia uneven.

He cited the contribution of the western region of Indonesia, which dominates 80 percent of economic growth. Even Java Island contributes 57 percent of the national economy, while eastern Indonesia only contributes 20 percent. Mahfud regretted this considering that eastern Indonesia, such as East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), has natural potential, very rich cultural diversity, but its condition is still below the national average because it has not maximally managed its existing potential.

"So I say, whatever theory you use if you are not able to eradicate corruption, at least stop the continuation of corruption from time to time, then economic growth will never reach its maximum," said the man who still serves as Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.(ANTARA)