The Indonesian Embassy in Beirut has acknowledged its continued support for trade cooperation improvement between Indonesia and Lebanon. Indonesian Ambassador to Lebanon Hajriyanto Y Thohari gave the Primaduta Award to Lebanese businessman and importer, George R Fattouh. The award was given for his service in helping market Indonesian products in Paris from the Middle East. The award was given at a ceremony at the Indonesian Embassy in Beirut, Thursday (11/1) Fatough, is the owner of George R. Fattouh S.A.L, a business that has been importing Indonesian products since the 1980s. It has a range of products, including: palm oil and its derivatives, oil and fats (including cocoa butter substitute, fat spread, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, and lauric confectionery fats), cardboard, stationary, and school equipment. Some Indonesian products are now even available at famous retail networks, such as Spinney’s and Carrefour. In 2022, the value imported by George R. Fattough S.A.L of Indonesian products, was 981.3 million USD. This was a 149.5 million USD increase when compared to 2021. Fattouh said Indonesian products are known for their quality and are in high demand in Lebanese markets. However, he said, the challenge now is increasing freight costs due to security challenges in the region.
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Listeners, a number of delicious dishes were served to the guests of Dhaup Ageng Pura Pakualaman Yogyakarta, at the wedding reception of the youngest son of K.G.P.A.A. Paku Alam X, namely B.P.H. Kusumo Kuntonugroho with Laily Annisa Kusumastuti which was held on January 10, 2024.Head of the Customs and Accommodation Division, Dhaup Ageng Pura Pakualaman, KRT Radyo Wisroyo said that the menu served to guests was quite varied. These menus are typical menus prepared by Pakualaman Pura, Indonesian menus and western food menus were also available. All invited guests including VIP and VVIP guests got the same menu. The first menu served to welcome guests, namely two types of welcome drink, namely lime lemongrass and ginger drink with lime. The welcome drink was given when guests sat down and watched the Bedhaya Sidamukti and Bedhaya Kakung Indrawidagda dance performances. Next, they gotsnacks for appetizer such as croquettes and other light snacks. There is a snack that is considered quite special and rare called Garulina. Garulina was the opening snack at the Pahargyan Dhaup Ageng Pakualaman lunch on the first day. Garulina has been around since the era before Indonesian independence. Garulina is actually not a typical Central Javanese food. It looks like the Lapis Legit layered cake, but there is something different, because there is a special layer like vla which is made from fresh milk, eggs and sugar. To get this sweet snack, Pakulaman Temple has to place a special order from the third generation of makers who have been pioneering since the 1950s. In Jogja, Garulina is very difficult to find and is considered rare because it is not sold every day.
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Brunei Darussalam’s residents enthusiastically visited the Indonesian Culture Exhibition at the Mall, Gadong, Saturday (13/02) with the theme “Global Cultures.” The visitors were amazed with the diversity of Indonesian culture. The exhibition aims at raising a greater understanding of the wealth of Indonesian culture and disseminating various collaborative activities between the Indonesian community and the citizens of Brunei Darussalam.
Through the exhibition entitled "Indonesia: Rich Cultural Heritage", the Indonesian Embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan performed several goods, information and video recordings. The exhibition also represented 34 Indonesian Provinces from Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua islands along with information related to each province. The exhibition also performed the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humankind and the UNESCO World Heritage List from Indonesia.
The Indonesian Embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan performed the Saman Dance from Aceh, the Gambuh Dance from Bali, the Pencak Silat uniform to Minang traditional clothes which represented Pantun. Besides, it also performed a replica of puppet, miniature of Angklung, miniature of Batik instruments, miniature of Phinisi boats from South Sulawesi, photos of typical dishes from 34 provinces of Indonesia in the form of videos, Indonesian culture books and tourism brochures. In commemorating the 37th National Day of Brunei Darussalam, this exhibition and many community activities of Indonesia in Brunei Darussalam are expected to reflect high collaboration and friendly relations that have been closely established between the two countries for 37 years.
Two Indonesian ship crews, who worked at the Italian fishing ship, MP Antartide, arrived safely at Soekarno-Hatta International airport on February 12, 2021. The arrival of the crews was facilitated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs collaborated with Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Agency and Covid-19 Handling Task Force. Earlier, the two Indonesian crews along with other 16 crews, who are Italian, Senegal, and Tunisian national, were arrested for 108 days by Libya National Army after the ship was accused of violating the Libyan Sea boundary. Since the first information was obtained, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Indonesian Embassy in Rome, Italy and the Indonesian Embassy in Tripoli have coordinated with authorities both in Italy and Libya. The release process was carried out by the Italian Government because of another motive, namely the release of 4 East Libyans who are currently imprisoned in Italy for trafficking in persons.
Protection of Indonesian ship crews is one of the main focuses of Indonesian representatives around the world, including in Panama. To improve the protection of Indonesian ship crews, the Indonesian Embassy in Panama City held a coordination meeting with the theme 'Finding the Best Solution for the Protection of Indonesian Citizen Ship Crews at High Seas in the Latin America and Caribbean Region.' Indonesian Ambassador to Panama, Sukmo Harsono in his statement last Saturday (13/2) said that the Indonesian Embassy was at the forefront that Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) would look for in seeking protection. However, so far, the Indonesian Embassy has never had data on the number of crew members sent by agents from Indonesia to overseas. According to Sukmo, it is time to consider the one-door mechanism in charge of issuing certification or departure permits, supervising work contracts, insurance, and collecting data on prospective of Indonesian Migrant Workers, to be informed to every Indonesian Embassy and all related parties.
Indonesian Ambassador to Japan, Heri Akhmadi inaugurated the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Super Tanker Ship 'PERTAMINA PRIDE' at the Ariake Japan Marine United Shipyard, Kumamoto on Tuesday (9/2). As Quoted by niindo.com, Ambassador Heri Akhmadi explained that the existence of this VLCC will play an important role to support the fulfillment of transportation needs for Free-On-Board Crude Cargo as raw material for refineries. This is very important to secure the national energy supply.
Ambassador Heri Akhmadi further noted that the existence of the Pertamina Pride Super tanker would be an important part of Pertamina's business in the future. At the inauguration, Ambassador Heri was accompanied by his wife, Nuning Akhmadi, Coordinator of Economic Functions of the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo, Rima Cempaka and Head of Pertamina East Asia, Made Adi Putra. Meanwhile, this was also attended virtually by Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Pahala Nugraha Mansuri, President Director of PT Pertamina, Nicke Widyawati and Pertamina's Board of Directors and Board of Commissioners.
The Pertamina Pride VLCC vessel has a crude oil carrying capacity of as total as 324,995 cubic meters or around 2.04 million barrels. This ship is a crude oil tanker of single screw driven and single deck. The total length of the ship reaches 330 meters or about 3 times the size of a soccer field with a depth of 29.35 meters. Besides, Ambassador Heri Akhmadi also added that the building of the ship, which took approximately 18 months, was a form of concrete cooperation between Indonesia and Japan. The VLCC will be operated by Sub-holding Shipping Pertamina. It is hoped that this ship can become one of the main supporters to further advance Indonesia's role in the international shipping industry.
Sin Cia or Imlek is not much different from other New Years. In general, Chinese people also celebrate Chinese New Year. This celebration is also closely related to the party celebrating the arrival of Spring. The Chinese New Year celebration starts on the 30th of the 12th month and ends on the 15th of the first month or better known as Cap Go Meh. Chinese New Year celebrations include Chinese New Year prayers, prayers to the Creator / Thian and Cap Go Meh celebrations. Chinese New Year celebrations in Indonesia have been held since the reign of Indonesia's 4th President, Abdurrahman Wahid, who upholds the values of pluralism and opens up the religious freedom of the Chinese people.
Various memorials and Chinese New Year celebrations take place lively in Indonesia. One of them is at Taman Impian Jaya Ancol or Ancol Dreamland in North Jakarta, which holds a lion dance attraction into the water at the main Sea World aquarium. The event will be presented with the storyline "YinYang: Living in Harmony". Ancol Dreamland Marketing Director, Febrina Intan said that the Chinese New Year celebration is held with a simple concept while remaining attractive and paying attention to health protocols.
Vietnamese university students learn Indonesian language online
A total of 49 students from many universities in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam followed the Indonesian Language for Foreign Speakers (BIPA) program from Adi Buana University Surabaya, held online. Rector of Adi Buana University, Marianus Subandowo along with the Indonesian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanif Salim, officially opened the program on Sunday (7/2). In his statement in Jakarta on Monday (8/2), Hanif Salim stated that the high interest of Vietnamese students to learn Indonesian language has shown the huge potential of Indonesian language in the Southeast Asian region, even though it may potentially become one of the official languages of the United Nations.
Moreover, Hanif also explained that Vietnam pays serious attention to improve the quality of its human resources because it has the second highest economic growth in Asia after China. Vietnam considers Indonesian language lessons as an important key to explore a strategic partnership with Indonesia, as the largest political and economic power in Southeast Asia. Rector Marianus Subandowo stated the online BIPA program was attended by students from many other countries, including Thailand, the United States, England, Italy, Spain and Poland, with a total of 88 participants.He further said that Vietnamese university students become the most participants at the program. In line with the Indonesian Consul General, Rector Marianus also explained that "the Adi Buana BIPA online class program is a contribution to the efforts of Internationalizing Indonesian Language.
Indonesian Embassy in Panama City has facilitated cooperation between several universities in Indonesia and several universities in Panama-Costa Rica. The Indonesian Embassy in Panama held a virtual meeting to discuss international cooperation in the field of higher education between Indonesia, and Panama-Costa Rica. The virtual discussion was held on Friday, February 5. Opening the meeting, Indonesian Ambassador to Panama City, Sukmo Harsono said that one of the efforts that could be made was to increase people-to-people contact through cooperation between universities.
The virtual meeting was attended by 65 participants from 9 universities in Indonesia, Panama and Costa Rica. Several universities from Indonesia include Gunadarma University, STIMATA, STIENUS, STMIK Jakarta and AKMRTV. The universities from Panama include Universidad de Panamá and Universidad Technologica de Panamá. Meanwhile, from Costa Rica, Universidad de Costa Rica and Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica.
Ambassador Sukmo conveyed that Indonesia has more than 4,000 public and private universities. Of the thousands of universities, Gunadarma University is one of the private universities in Indonesia that is ready to collaborate with universities in Panama and Costa Rica.
Indonesia calls for a dialogue approach over the political situation in Myanmar
Indonesia asked the involved parties in the current political situation in Myanmar to control and call for a dialogue approach, after military coup and the detention of civilian government leaders. The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an official statement on Monday (1/2) stated that Indonesia urged all parties in Myanmar to control and prioritize a dialogue in finding out a solution from the various challenges and problems so that the situation is not getting worse.
As reported by Reuters.com, the military arrested Myanmar leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and a number of other political leaders from the National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the raid on Monday. The military authority announced that the governmental power has been transferred to the Chief of the armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, along with the detention of political figures that was said as a response over last year's election fraud.
Moreover, Indonesia also expressed deep concern over the political developments in Myanmar and underlined that the disputes related to the results of the general election can be overcome by the available legal mechanisms. Besides, Indonesia appealed to Myanmar to implement the principles of the ASEAN Charter, including being committed to laws and running good governance based on democracy and constitution.
Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to the Republic of Colombia, Priyo Iswanto was awarded Doctorate Honoris Causa (DR. HC) in Social Sciences from the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), with real work consideration in increasing cooperation between Indonesia and Colombia by issuing palm oil as an important factor in achieving the Development Goals Sustainability (SDGs Plus). Ambassador Priyo has succeeded in convincing Colombia to become the first member of the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) outside its founders, namely Indonesia and Malaysia.
Based on the SDGs Plus of economic, social, environmental, and moral approaches in his scientific oration, Ambassador Priyo affirmed the importance of the palm oil industry in achieving SDGs no. 1 (no poverty); SDGs 2 (no hunger); SDGs 7 (clean and affordable energy), and SDGs 8 (decent work and economic development). Moreover, he also explained that the negative campaign against palm oil is immoral because in reality, palm oil has various advantages, including being more environmentally friendly compared with other vegetable oils because palm trees require more efficient land, water and fertilizers. He also proposed the importance of strengthening the CPOPC by expanding membership by other palm oil producing countries and also the need to integrate the dynamics of the palm oil industry among three regions of inter- continents, namely Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Indonesian Foreign Affairs Mahendra Siregar representing the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in his remarks stated that palm oil is a strategic commodity for Indonesia and Colombia and industry. It has contributed to the implementation success of a peace agreement in Colombia.
With the experience of seeing the processing of shrimp shell waste, Universitas Airlangga (Unair) students have innovated hand sanitizer products from shrimp shell waste. One of the team members, Arief Rubiana, explained that the idea for innovation came from his experience during the Fieldwork Practices in Thailand. At that time, he took the topic of “Research on Chitosan from shrimp shell waste.
By utilizing shrimp shell waste, this product is claimed to be more environmentally friendly. In addition, chitosan is organic, and it does not contain proteins that can cause allergies. Chitosan is a derived biopolymer compound that is organic in nature. Derivative compounds, that come from three stages, are deproteinization, demineralization, and deacetylation of chitin, which are found in marine animals such as shrimp and crabs.
Because the work on the innovation concept is carried out online, Arief admits that the innovation still needs further development to explore its effectiveness and packaging that must be eco-friendly. The innovation has made the second winner at the National Level in the Product Innovation Competition Category for the 2020 Student Creativity and Innovation Festival, Khairun Ternate University.
The Indonesian Embassy in Khartoum Takes Part at the 38th International Fair of Khartoum to increase trade volume between Indonesia and Sudan
Indonesian representatives in foreign countries have duties to continuously carry out economic diplomacy and increase Indonesia's trade with accredited countries. One of the ways done by the Indonesian Embassy in Khartoum was by attending the International Fair of Khartoum (IFK) last Friday (22/1). The IFK 2021 exhibition is a step done by the Government of Sudan to collaborate and promote many potentials of Sudan to friendly countries that are expected to be able to push the economic recovery of Sudan.
During the event of IFK, there was also a Business Forum held to facilitate business contacts of the participants and promote the potential for trade and investment cooperation in Sudan. Indonesian Ambassador to Sudan, Rossalis R. Adenan explained that the political relations between Indonesia and Sudan have been running well for a long time, but it has not been reflected in the economic cooperation because the current trade volume between the two countries is still far under its real potential. It needs joint efforts to continuously increase trade and investment cooperation of both countries.
The Indonesian Embassy in Khartoum keeps on encouraging actively the business actors of the two countries, including by facilitating business contacts between business actors of the two countries to explore various opportunities for cooperation. The Indonesian Embassy in Khartoum also asked for support related to the plan of establishing the Indonesia-Sudan Business Council (ISBC) as a communication platform for business players of the two countries that have been friendly for a long time.