VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Eight Chinese companies engaged in various industrial fields expressed their wish at the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing to invest in Indonesia.

"The CEOs of eight companies came to the Indonesian Embassy to convey their desire to expand their business network to Indonesia," said the Indonesian Ambassador to China and Mongolia, Djauhari Oratmangun, Thursday.

Travis Liu was appointed as the head of a delegation of eight companies engaged in information technology, manufacturing, environmental conservation, public needs, media, and equity investment, meeting the Ambassador and the ranks of the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing.

The CEO of MagicWe Technologies, which is engaged in digital marketing and creative e-commerce, conveyed several advantages and disadvantages for Chinese companies that want to invest in Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia.

However, he sees that the market potential in the Southeast Asia region is exploding.

Indonesia as the only country in the region that is part of the G20 has stable GDP growth and has even increased over the last few years.

This is what makes entrepreneurs from China very interested in investing in Indonesia, said Liu.

Taiho, a company engaged in mechanical technology and artificial intelligence (AI), offers cooperation in the cleaning and sorting fields of mining goods.

Then there is also The Passage which wants to collaborate in technology research in Indonesia. Likewise, Lena wants to invest in Indonesia in beauty equipment.

Mihoteco, which is engaged in lighting and waste processing, is interested in opening a business in Indonesia and investing in the processing of mixed plastic waste into woven plastic.

These businessmen originally planned to visit Indonesia in early 2020. However, they were postponed until the global pandemic situation subsided somewhat.

Ambassador Djauhari responded positively to their wishes by remembering that coal was Indonesia's largest export product to China.

In addition, plastic waste processing will be a solution for handling waste in Indonesia, which can be recycled into new types of products that can also a construction material. Chinese investment in Indonesia in recent years has shown an increase.

During January-September 2020, China has realized its investment in Indonesia amounting to 3.5 billion US dollars, placing it in the second position of the largest foreign investment in Indonesia.

Several cooperation projects between Indonesia and China are carried out through the synergy framework of the World Maritime Axis and the Road Belt Initiative (BRI), including the development of four new economic corridors and the development of Special Economic Zones in Indonesia.

"I hope that the economic area can become a potential investment destination for potential Chinese investors," said the Ambassador.

He also offered several industrial sectors to these Chinese entrepreneurs in line with areas of economic cooperation which had been Indonesia's priority so far.

"W will follow up on various proposals for cooperation with the relevant authorities in Jakarta to realize concrete investment achievements," said Djauhari. (Antaranews)

Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Thursday (5/11) agreed to extend bilateral financial cooperation worth $10 billion for one year.

"This cooperation has been going on since November 2018 as a follow-up to an agreement between President Joko Widodo and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong to support monetary and financial stability in the two countries," said BI Communication Department Executive Director Onny Widjanarko in a press release in Jakarta, Thursday.

This cooperation comprises two agreements, namely the Local Currency Bilateral Swap Agreement (LCBSA) which allows the exchange of local currency between the two central banks up to 9.5 billion Singapore dollars or Rp. 100 trillion (around 7 billion US dollars).

In addition, the Bilateral Repo Agreement (BRL) allows repo transactions between the two central banks to get liquidity in US dollars up to 3 billion US dollars by pledging government bonds issued by countries. G3 (United States, Japan, and Germany) owned by the two central banks.

According to Onny, the cooperation was previously extended for the first time in November 2019.

The second extension shows Indonesia's commitment and Singapore to continue to support each other in order to build confidence in economic conditions in each country amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. (Antaranews)

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicts that the weather in most parts of Indonesia is sunny and cloudy, although in several other areas it rains light to heavy on November 5 - 6 2020 at 07.00 WIB.

Based on the numerical weather model output data from the BMKG Weather Prediction Sub-Sector, the weather on the island of Sumatra is cloudy with the potential for light rain. However, parts of Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, Bangka Belitung Islands, South Sumatra, and Lampung have the potential for moderate to heavy rain.

For some areas in Java, it is also sunny and has the potential for light rain, but parts of Banten, West Java, Central Java, and East Java have the potential for moderate rain.

Meanwhile, the weather in several areas in Kalimantan is sunny and cloudy with the potential for light rain, but parts of West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and North Kalimantan have the potential for moderate rain.

In Sulawesi, the weather is cloudy with the potential for light rain, but parts of North Sulawesi, southern parts of Central Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and South Sulawesi, have the potential for moderate to heavy rain.

As for the areas of Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara, they are sunny and cloudy with the potential for light rain.

Meanwhile, the weather in the Maluku and Papua regions is also expected to be cloudy and potentially light rain, although parts of Maluku and North Maluku in the west, and parts of Papua and West Papua have the potential for moderate to heavy rain. (Antaranews)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named the Karimunjawa area, Jepara Regency, Central Java, as a biosphere reserve in order to increase various efforts to conserve biodiversity in the area.

"Determination by UNESCO at the end of October 28, 2020, is not only Karimunjawa, but Karimunjawa Jepara Muria which includes Jepara, Kudus, and Pati Districts," said Head of the Jepara Environmental Service Farikhah Elida in Jepara, Wednesday.

She said there are other two new biosphere reserves in Indonesia that were announced at the 32nd session of the UNESCO International Coordinating Council (ICC) Man and the Biosphere (MAB) in 2020, Wednesday (28/10).

The submission of Karimunjawa as a biosphere reserve, she said, has been carried out since 2017. The team started by preparing proposals, conference data at LIPI, filming of biosphere reserves nominations, to submitting proposed documents for biosphere reserves nominations to MAB UNESCO, Nigeria.

The data needed, starting from the RPJMD, RTRW, geographical, social, economic, and cultural conditions, letters of agreement signed by the local government and related agencies, and letters of recommendation from the Governor of Central Java.

"The total area in Karimunjawa reaches 746,412.54 hectares," she said.

Regarding the reasons for proposing it as a biosphere reserve zone, including because it is a lowland tropical rainforest, mangrove forest, coastal forest ecosystem, seagrass ecosystem, coral reefs with a wide specification of coral reefs reaching 7,487,55 hectares, and the mangroves in Karimunjawa are mostly true mangroves.

Regarding the reason for the naming of Karimunjawa Jepara Muria, this is to introduce the potential of Jepara, which has the islands and mountains of Muria, to the international community.

She said that the biosphere reserve is an area comprising terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems that are recognized internationally as part of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Program (MAB).

"The biosphere reserve is a concept of area management that integrates the interests of conservation of living natural resources and their ecosystems with the interests of sustainable socio-economic development as an effort to achieve a balance between humans and nature and the environment," she said. (Antaranews)