VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, from the State Dining Room of the White House on Mar 12, 2021, in Washington. (Photo: AP/Alex Brandon)

The United States, India, Japan and Australia on Friday (Mar 12) announced a joint drive to ramp up the COVID-19 vaccine supply in Asia, mounting a challenge to China in the first-ever summit of the four like-minded powers.

US President Joe Biden, who has vowed to reinvigorate alliances in the face of growing worries about China, met virtually with the three nations' prime ministers and told them that the so-called Quad format would become a "vital arena" for cooperation.

"We're renewing our commitment to ensure that our region is governed by international law, committed to upholding universal values and free from coercion," said Biden, who like the others made no explicit, but plenty of implicit, mentions of China."A free and open Indo-Pacific is essential," he said, a message reinforced by the other leaders as concerns mount about China's assertion of power around the region.

Pledging that the Quad should bring "practical solutions and concrete results," Biden said, "We're launching an ambitious new joint partnership that is going to boost vaccine manufacturing for the global benefit and strengthen vaccinations to benefit the entire Indo-Pacific."

US officials said the initiative would produce up to one billion vaccine doses by 2022 as the world seeks to turn the page on the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plan would see pharmaceutical hub India manufacturing the single-dose vaccine from US-based Johnson & Johnson, backed by financial support from Japan, with Australia taking charge of shipments.

US officials said the focus would be Southeast Asia at a time when China, where the deadly virus was first detected in late 2019, works to transform its image into that of a global healer.China has shipped vaccines as far afield as the Dominican Republic and provided doses to international partners such as Pakistan and Zimbabwe//CNA

Mar. 12 - Senior officials from 21 APEC member economies are convening virtually to speed up regional response to the protracted impacts of COVID-19 in order to drive the recovery process.

The two-day Senior Officials’ Meeting comes in close heels to a comprehensive discussion on how APEC will carry forward the commitments made by leaders in 2020 and the development of a 20-year implementation plan by taking into account the challenges and risks posed by the pandemic, according to a written statement issued by the APEC Secretariat and received here on Friday.

"We are facing quite a serious challenge this year, driven in part by the health catastrophe that we all face across our region. However, serious economic challenges now also confront our economies as we look to find a way through this crisis," Vangelis Vitalis, chair of the APEC 2021 Senior Officials, affirmed.

In the wake of wider risk of inequality and rising protectionism against a backdrop of looming uncertainty, Vitalis highlighted the significance of capturing and featuring all the challenges, as senior officials deliberate on policy measures and make concerted regional efforts to drive recovery.

"There is rising protectionism across the world, which challenges us all to re-think the fundamentals of regional economic integration. On top of that, the social licence for trade policy and for economic integration is increasingly under strain, as we witness the unequal impact of COVID-19 on women, small businesses, and indigenous people," Vitalis stressed.

"As a region, we need to work together to ensure APEC effectively responds, not just to the immediate crisis but also to the longer-term need to build a sustainable and resilient regional economy that benefits everyone," he added.

During the dialog, APEC senior officials will seek to realize the need for APEC to become more sustainable and inclusive for all people, including for women and indigenous people. The focus will be to support their full participation in the region’s economy, so it can help to drive new thinking and unlock novel ways to address the global pandemic.

Officials will also hold discussions on measures to respond to the pandemic through economic and trade policies that strengthen the recovery year. This comprises policies that encourage openness and connectivity as well as lessen friction at the border, with the objective of reducing barriers and making it easier for companies to trade throughout the APEC region, especially on COVID-19 essential goods.

Advancing digital inclusion, infrastructure, and green technology will also be a key focus for APEC this year. This encompasses promoting digitally-enabled business and trade, striving for regulatory coherence, and resolving issues pertaining to data and digital trade tools.

"APEC, as a regional forum, needs to seize the moment and rise to the occasion by putting together a concrete response that will benefit all," APEC Secretariat’s Executive Director, Rebecca Sta Maria, noted.

"We want to see the policy that continues to make trade and investment across markets easier, cheaper, faster, and more sustainable to avoid undermining the significant progress that has been achieved in the region in these areas," Sta Maria remarked.

Vitalis concurred by highlighting the importance of APEC economies working in unison to end subsidies on fossil fuels and reducing tariffs on environmental goods and exploring similar work in services.

"APEC needs to show leadership in this area, as is expected from the world’s most dynamic regional economy," he remarked.

"The trade policy should be inclusive, beneficial for all, and be an enabler of solutions to some of the most pressing sustainability issues we all face. Identifying environmental goods and services and addressing barriers to their uptake, for instance, can contribute to our collective climate change mitigation efforts," he explained.

This year will hold significance for APEC and New Zealand. With the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 agreed upon by leaders last year, member economies are mandated to formulate a detailed plan of action to realize the new vision that will expand on the three economic drivers of growth: trade and investment; innovation and digitalization; and strong, balanced, secure, sustainable and inclusive growth.

"The key is for APEC to not only be responsive to the immediate crisis but also relevant to the challenges we are all going to confront over the next 20 years," Vitalis expounded.

"We are looking to work together with all APEC member economies to develop this implementation plan in the spirit of what the Putrajaya Vision talks about in terms of equal partnership. Large or small, we were all equal in this important process," he stated. (Reuters)

Mar. 12 - Global shares were flat on Friday but within sight of a record high while oil edged lower as benchmark debt yields climbed, helping to curb the latest stimulus-driven rally.

Gains in Asian stock markets proved tough to match for most of European peers, after they hit a 1-year high in the prior session. U.S. stock futures also suggested a lower start for Wall Street later in the day.

The note of caution followed the signing of a $1.9 trillion U.S. stimulus bill into law on Thursday and a further dovish tilt from the European Central Bank that had prompted a retreat in bond yields and eased global concerns about rising inflation.

The burst of market optimism from those events had helped Asian shares rise - Japan’s Nikkei added 1.7% - but this faded out as Europe opened for business, with Britain’s FTSE 100 and the STOXX Europe 600 down around 0.5%.

That in turn weighed on the MSCI World Index, taking it into the red, down 0.1%, albeit less than 1.5% away from the record high hit last month.

Biden had signed the stimulus legislation ahead of a televised address in which he pledged aggressive action to speed vaccinations and move the country closer to normality by July 4.

The signing of the American Rescue Plan provided a further boost to market sentiment after the European Central Bank said it was ready to accelerate money-printing to keep a lid on borrowing costs, using its 1.85 trillion euro Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program more generously over the coming months to stop any unwarranted rise in debt financing costs.

Against that backdrop of super-loose monetary policy, analysts largely expect inflation to pick up as vaccine rollouts lead to a reopening, leading to worries that Biden’s stimulus package could overheat the economy.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose again on Friday, back above 1.6% and on track to rise for the seventh straight week.

In currency markets, the dollar gained 0.56% against the yen and 0.4% against the euro and pound, although the latter was helped by news the economy had contracted less than expected in January.

The dollar index, meanwhile, which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of six major rivals, rose 0.4%.

Markets will likely remain volatile in the second quarter, particularly for the dollar, which was much stronger than expectations at the start of the year, said Cliff Zhao, chief strategist at China Construction Bank International.

“So I think the strong U.S. dollar may weigh on some liquidity conditions in the emerging markets,” he added.

Oil prices retreated from sharp gains as the dollar firmed, with U.S. crude dipping 0.3% to $65.8 a barrel. Brent crude lost 0.1% to $69.54 per barrel.

Spot gold prices fell 0.8% to $1,707.7 an ounce. (Reuters)

Mar. 12 - Malaysia’s government on Friday defended a new law aimed at tackling rampant fake news related to COVID-19 and an ongoing state of emergency, as critics warned it could be used to silence dissent and curtail free speech.

The emergency ordinance, which took effect on Friday, will make it an offence to publish or reproduce any “wholly or partly false” content related to the pandemic or the emergency declaration, prescribing hefty fines and jail terms of up to six years.

Emergency laws do not need parliamentary approval.

Communications Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said the ordinance would help expedite enforcement, investigation and prosecution by authorities, who would otherwise be hampered by old laws that are ill equipped to deal with the rapid expansion of social media.

“Our interest is in fighting COVID-19 and we will do whatever it takes ... we take cognisance of the fact that we have to be fair, we have to be just in carrying out our duties,” Saifuddin told a news conference.

But opposition lawmakers and civil society groups said the new law was too sweeping and could be used to instill fear among the public about criticising the government.

Earlier on Friday, the prime minister’s department on Twitter posted a government circular prohibiting civil servants from making negative public statements, or sharing or distributing any content deemed detrimental to government policies or its image.

In January, parliament was suspended after King Al-Sultan Abdullah declared a state of emergency to curb the spread of COVID-19, a move that the opposition decried as an attempt by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to retain control amid a power struggle.

Malaysia has reported 320,939 COVID-19 infections as of Friday, with 1,203 deaths, the third highest caseload in the region behind Indonesia and the Philippines. (Reuters)