VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi received the Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation of the Republic of Tanzania, Stergomena Lawrence Tax, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta. During the meeting, the two Ministers discussed a number of issues in bilateral cooperation between the two countries, ranging from trade, investment, health and development cooperation.

"We agreed to explore the possibility of establishing a Preferential Trade Agreement," Retno said in a joint statement after the meeting, Thursday (22/6).

Indonesia and Tanzania recorded a positive trend in trade relations. According to Retno, trade between the two countries increased by 50 percent from 2019 to 2022, with a value of more than USD 340 million.

"Based on this momentum, Indonesia intends to export several other goods such as rubber tires, fertilizers, food and beverages," Retno said.

On investment, the two foreign ministers discussed efforts to increase Indonesian investment in Tanzania. Clove oil manufacturer PT Indesso Aroma, for example, plans to expand its refining units in Zanzibar and Tonga. While PT Pertamina is also looking to expand its presence and acquire a majority stake in Mnazi Bay Bloc operations through its subsidiaries Maurel and Prom.

"I appreciate Tanzania's support for Indonesia's outbound investment. I believe this will also make a positive contribution to our economy," Retno said.

Meanwhile, in the health sector, the two Foreign Ministers committed to strengthening cooperation to strengthen health resilience. According to Retno, the pandemic has taught both countries the importance of strong health infrastructure.

"Indonesian pharmaceutical company Dexa Medica has received Good Manufacturing Practices from Tanzania and will start supplying its products to Tanzania," Retno said.

In the development sector, Retno Marsudi said, Indonesia and Tanzania have implemented various development cooperation programs. These include capacity building, food security training, trade, investment and education. In the past five years, Indonesia and Tanzania have implemented various development cooperation programs. They include capacity building and training in food security, trade, investment and education.

"For this year and next year, we will continue to provide similar programs in agriculture, mining and energy. In the long term, we seek to enhance our cooperation, including by developing country-specific cooperation plans in development cooperation," Retno said.

In addition to the four issues, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation of the Republic of Tanzania, Stergomena Lawrence Tax, also discussed preparations for President Joko Widodo's visit to Tanzania later this year, and the possibility of a visit to Indonesia by the Prime Minister of Tanzania.

"Our hope is that this visit will result in concrete and meaningful cooperation that can be achieved," she said. (VOI)

VOINews, Jakarta - Building mutual trust is important for maintaining regional security, peace, and stability, Secretary General of the Defense Ministry Vice Marshal Donny Ermawan Taufanto stressed on Wednesday.

While chairing the 20th ASEAN Regional Forum Security Policy Conference (ASPC) here on Wednesday, he said that confidence-building measures (CBMs) can help reduce tensions, increase mutual trust, and encourage cooperation between countries.

"In ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), CBMs have succeeded in maintaining regional peace and stability through military-to-military contacts, mutual visits, information, and intelligence data sharing, as well as joint military exercises," he pointed out.

Such attempts to maintain mutual trust can prevent conflict and promote sustainable cooperation in the region, he added.

He noted that Southeast Asian countries are currently facing several security challenges, including cybersecurity, conflicts in Myanmar, terrorism, as well as threats to environmental security due to climate change, global warming, and rising sea levels.

"Cybersecurity has become a major challenge to global security. The advancement of digital technology is both a vulnerability and a threat, which can be exploited by malicious parties,” he added.

Taufanto said that the threat of cyberattacks has been rising with the increasing reliance of each country on technology.

On the sidelines of the event, he visited a number of exhibition booths set up by Indonesian defense companies, including J-Forces Group, PT Sentra Surya Ekajaya, PT Panca Prima Maju Bersama, as well as state-run defense holding company Defend ID.

The ASEAN Regional Forum is a dialogue forum for 10 ASEAN member countries -- namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam -- as well as 17 international partners.

The partners consist of Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, the United States, Bangladesh, North Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste.

However, delegates from just 25 members of the ASEAN Regional Forum attended the 20th ASPC meeting, which was themed "Navigating a Bright Future for Sustainable Peace, Prosperity, and Security." Delegates from North Korea and Mongolia were unable to join the meeting.

The meeting highlighted three issues: contemporary global security challenges; regional cooperation for blue economy and climate mitigation; as well as efforts to build mutual trust between ASEAN Regional Forum members. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Global emissions need to be reduced by 50 percent as early as possible in order to achieve net-zero emissions (NZE) by 2050, the Founder of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) Dino Patti Djalal.

FPCI is a non-partisan, non-political, and independent foreign policy organization established to discuss and introduce international relations issues with many related actors in Indonesia, such as diplomats, ambassadors, government officials, academics, researchers, business, media, think tanks, lecturers, and students.

"Global emissions must be cut by 50 percent from now on to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The carbon stock has been calculated to achieve these net emissions according to the Paris Agreement," Dino said at a press briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday.

According to the FPCI founder, the global phenomenon that will affect the industry, the economy, and many other aspects the most is climate change.

"If the world experiences a temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius, then 99 percent of the world's coral reefs will die, and Indonesia, as an archipelago country, will definitely be very affected," he said.

Responding to the hopes and promises of Indonesia emerging as the world’s 4th largest economy by 2045, Dino said the achievement of this vision would be greatly influenced by efforts to control climate change.

"We see that Indonesia's current condition is good and in the future, there are many hopes and promises for Indonesia in 2045 becoming the 4th largest economy in the world, and there are many analyses about the achievements that are expected to occur when Indonesia reaches the age of 100 in 2045," Dino noted.

"However, from all these analyses, there is no risk analysis, and the biggest risk is about climate change where we will live with very hot temperatures," he pointed out.

For this reason, he said, the FPCI will again hold the 2023 Indonesia Net-Zero Summit (INZS) with the theme "It's Now or Never!" in Jakarta on Saturday (June 24, 2023).

INZS is an annual climate conference held by the FPCI as a platform for policy makers, diplomats, the private sector, celebrities, youth, and civil society to discuss climate issues.

"The point is that through this forum we will encourage the community and the government to get out of their comfort zone and don't get used to being aware of a crisis until it happens first," Dino said.

At the Indonesia Net-Zero Summit 2023, in addition to discussions in the form of panel discussions, a "Climate Concert" will also be held to build public interest and involvement in climate discussions.

INZS 2023 will be attended by around 5 thousand participants and involve more than 100 community organizations, communities, and universities.

Last year, the FPCI held INZS online for the first time with the theme "Save Indonesia Gold Vision 2045 from the Climate Emergency Threat."

"Together with 152 groups of climate activists and youth from all over Indonesia, FPCI voiced the aspirations and hopes of Indonesia to realize concrete steps toward achieving national net-zero emissions," Dino stated. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia must take real actions to end the violence in Myanmar, a United Nations expert said, noting that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is deadlocked on how to resolve the ongoing crisis.

Speaking at a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday, Thomas Andrews, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said that ASEAN must consider alternative options to break what has become "a deadly stalemate."

If ASEAN remains deadlocked, Indonesia must reach out to those nations who support the people of Myanmar and engage in coordinated actions that will isolate and degrade the junta's capacity to attack the people, he advised.

Indonesia, as ASEAN chair, has been trying to advance the peace process by engaging key stakeholders in Myanmar's conflict for months. Those steps have been undertaken in keeping with the five-point peace plan agreed by ASEAN and the junta after it seized power in a 2021 coup.

However, Andrews said, Indonesia's effort to advance the Five-Point Consensus through engagement and accountability is facing major pushback from two quarters.

First, the junta, which has continued to refuse to abide by the consensus. Second, a group of governments that have convened a high-level meeting with junta representatives.

ASEAN is divided on how to deal with Myanmar. This week, the Thai government invited ASEAN foreign ministers and junta representatives to a meeting to discuss a proposal for the bloc to re-engage Myanmar's junta. But some ASEAN members declined to attend the meeting.

Thailand justified the meeting by saying that direct talks were necessary to protect the country, which shares a long border with Myanmar.

Andrews said the meeting in Thailand "can have the dangerous effect of legitimizing the junta and undermining ASEAN unity."

The ASEAN region consists of Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Since the junta, led by General Min Aung Hlaing, carried out the coup on February 1, 2021, it has perpetrated violence against the people of Myanmar.

According to a UN report, the junta’s troops have killed more than 3 thousand civilians, detained more than 19 thousand people, and displaced at least 1.5 million people from their homes, with more than 58 thousand houses, schools, and clinics burned to the ground so far. (Antaranews)