VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo and President of the Republic of Argentina Mauricio Macri held a bilateral meeting with delegates from each country. The meeting was held at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday, June 26, 2019.

The bilateral meeting was held during a series of state visits by President Mauricio Macri with Madame Juliana Awada to Indonesia. In the bilateral meeting, the two countries discussed various matters, mainly increasing cooperation in two fields, namely trade and investment cooperation, as well as cooperation between people to people contact.

"Argentina is Indonesia's second largest trading partner in South America. Earlier we discussed the improvement of economic cooperation, especially in the fields of trade, agriculture and strategic industries. We discussed various efforts to balance trade between the two countries including counter trade," said President Jokowi in joint press statement.

During the meeting, President Jokowi also offered various goods and services products owned by Indonesia's strategic industries. PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) offers aircraft, PT GMF offers cooperation in aircraft maintenance services, and PT INKA offers products with international standard locomotives and carriages.

"President Macri will then discuss with the leaders of PT. DI and PT INKA this afternoon to get a clearer picture," he continued.

In addition, President Jokowi also expressed the need to open Indonesian agricultural commodities that could enter Argentina, either in the form of zalacca, mangosteen, pineapple and others. To that end, President Jokowi encouraged steps to bring Indonesian businessmen closer, including by inviting the participation of Argentine businessmen at the Indonesia Trade Expo.

"Indonesia also continues to push for increased trade cooperation with MERCOSUR, the largest trade bloc in the South American Region which consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay," he explained.

Meanwhile, to increase cooperation in the fields of education, trade and investment, today in a separate place, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in the field of education, then a Joint Ministerial Statement on the Establishment of the Working Group on Trade and Investment.

As a fellow agrarian country, President Jokowi also sees the potential for cooperation in agriculture. President Jokowi welcomed the cooperation in developing the agricultural technology system as an implementation of the Action Plan for Agricultural Cooperation between Argentina and Indonesia.

President Macri said he was very pleased with the warm welcome from President Joko Widodo and First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo during his first visit to Indonesia. He also welcomed the various collaborations carried out by Indonesia and Argentina and assessed their potential to be very large.

"I am here to emphasize that there is enormous potential in the relations between Indonesia and Argentina and we want to develop it, deepen it in trade and cultural relations. This is very important progress and this must be two-way," said President Macri.

In the field of people-to-people contact, President Jokowi raised the issue of visa policies that were considered difficult for Indonesian citizens.

In response to this, President Macri promised to immediately improve the visa system so that the flow of Indonesians and Argentinians visiting each other could increase.

"Because these are two countries that are very beautiful and full of culture," he said. (setkab)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) accompanied by First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo received a visit from the President of the Argentine Republic Mauricio Macri and his wife Juliana Awada, at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, Wednesday (6/26) afternoon.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri and his entourage arrived at the Bogor Presidential Palace at around 11:10 WIB. The convoy of horsemen and custom-made troops escorted the arrival of the President of the Republic of Argentina from the front yard of the Palace.

When welcoming Mauricio Macri, President Jokowi wore a black suit with a red tie. While the First Lady Iriana looks gracefully dressed in a pink folk kebaya wrapped in a brown batik scarf.

The state ceremony began a series of greetings which were colored by the national anthem of the two countries and the boom of the cannon. After the national anthem of the two countries, President Jokowi and President Mauricio walked to inspect the troops. When passing a row of traditionally clothed children, President Mauricio received a warm welcome. "Welcome to Indonesia," the children shouted.

Furthermore, President Jokowi and Mauricio Macri entered the Bogor Presidential Palace for signing guest books and joint photo sessions. After signing the guest book, President Jokowi invited the Argentine President to head behind the Palace, where the two heads of state carried out Veranda Talk.

This series of state visits was then followed by bilateral meetings in the Left Wing Master Room. After the meeting, the two heads of state were scheduled to submit a joint press statement.

Accompanying President Jokowi in receiving this state visit included Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Minister of State Pratikno, Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita, Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman. (setkab)

Vice President, Jusuf Kalla, opened the conference, emphasizing the important role of the armed forces in determining the effectiveness of the peace mission on Tuesday in Jakarta.

"As a multinational force combined with various UN member states, the effectiveness of UN peace missions will be determined by the effectiveness of the contributing countries themselves. Although I also have to emphasize that 'peacekeeping is more than the sum of its parts'," said the vice president in his speech.

According to Kalla, the armed forces are the backbone of the UN peacekeeping mission, which needs to be developed continuously.

The UN peace mission requires modernization that is not only limited to technology, as well as modern doctrine, but also to the capabilities and capacities needed by peacekeepers.

"(These include) things like the ability to establish good relations with the local community, or an adequate understanding of international humanitarian law," said the vice president, citing "soft skills" needed by the armed forces to understand their mandate and work environment.

The capability and ability of "soft skills" of the peacekeepers said that the vice president must be able to win sympathy from the people on duty.

The vice president appreciated the conference as an opportunity for a number of countries to exchange ideas and prepare to be effective in the 21st century.

"Because peace cannot be maintained by force; it can only be achieved with understanding," said the vice president.

Navy Chief of Staff, Admiral Siwi Sukma Adji, said that as many as 29 countries and one regional organization attended the International Conference on the Preparation of the Modern Armed Forces for the Maintenance of Peace in the 21st century. "Also present were speakers who were international figures in the field of world peace missions," Admiral Siwi said in his remarks at a conference jointly held by the National Defense Forces  (TNI) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

He hoped this activity would emerge as one of the positive contributions of Indonesia and the entire country to a more peaceful and prosperous world. (ant)

Although not rising rapidly, the Indonesian economy is growing in quality. Indonesia's economic development shows an increasingly positive trend in the midst of global economic uncertainty.

"We are still able to print economic growth that consistently rises from year to year. 4.88 in 2015; 5.03 in 2016; 5.07 in 2017; and 5.17 in 2018, "said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution at a Joint Meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Board (Banggar DPR), in Jakarta, Tuesday (25/6) afternoon.

This is supported by low and controlled inflation in accordance with the targets set in the APBN. Not only that, the quality of growth is getting better marked by poverty rates, unemployment rates, and declining gini ratios.

"The investment climate is getting better. On May 31, 2019, S & P upgraded Indonesia's rating rating by one level to "BBB" with a stable outlook. Indonesia also received investment grade at the "BBB" level with a stable outlook from all rating agencies, "Darmin said.

Not only that, said the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Indonesia still has the attraction as an investment destination country based on the assessment of The Economist and IMF. Based on the evaluation of the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), Indonesia's competitiveness rankings also rose 11 places from rank 43 to rank 32 in 2019, and became the country with the highest increase in the Asia Pacific.

Regarding the economic development target in 2020, the Government is targeting a poverty rate of 8.5-9.0%, the unemployment rate of 4.8-5.0%, and the gini ratio of 0.375-0.380.

The macro assumptions in the Draft APBN 2020 agreed to by the government together with Commission VII and Commission XI of the DPR RI include: economic growth in the range of 5.2-5.5% (yoy), inflation ranges from 2.0-4.0% (yoy), the rupiah exchange rate of Rp. 14,000 - Rp. 14,500 per US dollar, oil prices at US $ 60 / barrel, oil lifting at 734 thousand barrels / day, and gas lifting at 1,159 BOE / day.

The work meeting led by the Chairperson of the Republic of Indonesia DPR Budget Body Kahar Muzakir was also attended by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto, Coordinating Minister for PMK Puan Maharani, and Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut B. Pandjaitan. ( Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs )