VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) is ready to send its volunteers to help victims of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami that affected part of Turkey on Friday (Oct 30).

"Turkey has assisted Indonesia a lot to handle various disasters, ranging from an earthquake and tsunami in Aceh to an earthquake, tsunami, and liquefaction in Central Sulawesi. Of course, when Turkey is grieving, PMI is ready to help," PMI Secretary-General Sudirman Said told Antara by phone on Saturday.

Sudirman said PMI and the Turkish Red Crescent which are members of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) will assist each other in handling disasters.

Moreover, the Turkish Red Crescent has frequently extended a large amount of assistance particularly during the earthquake, tsunami, and liquefaction recovery period in Central Sulawesi. The largest humanitarian organization in Turkey also contributed to the recovery of victims.

Sudirman said PMI has prepared a number of trained volunteers to help the victims of the quake and tsunami if requested by the Turkish government. The assistance is the manifestation of the longstanding friendship between the two nations.

Earlier, PMI Chief Jusuf Kalla expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives in the quake that rocked part of Turkey on Friday.

A powerful quake rocked Turkey on Friday. It destroyed scores of buildings and triggered a tsunami that swept through the country's coastal towns. The quake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale was centered 11 miles north of the island of Greek island Samos.

Meanwhile, citing data from the Turkish Disaster Management Agency Authority (AFAD), the Anadolu Agency reported that the quake has claimed 25 lives and left at least 804 persons injured as of early Saturday.

At least 743 persons have been injured in Izmir and neighboring provinces, five in Manisa, two in Balikesir, and 54 in Aydin, according to the Turkish news agency. (Antaranews)

Indonesia on Sunday recorded 2,696 fresh COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 412,784, and 4,141 new recoveries, taking the total recoveries to 341,942 since the country announced its first two COVID-19 cases in early March 2020.

The country's Task Force for COVID-19 Handling also reported that 74 more people succumbed to COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 13,943.

In the past 24 hours, the number of specimens examined at 426 laboratories across Indonesia reached 23,208 from 17,971 people, taking the total specimens examined to 4,540,947 from 2,899,414 people.

The highest number of fresh cases was recorded in Jakarta , which stood at 608, followed by Central Java (458), East Java (253), West Java (245), and West Sumatra (225), according to the task force.

Meanwhile, Jakarta led the number of new recoveries with 1,475, followed by West Java (638), Central Java (332), East Java (323), and West Sumatra (244).

Four provinces, Jambi, Central Kalimantan, North Maluku, and Papua reported no fresh cases within the last 24 hours.

The task force also reported 61,215 suspected COVID-19 cases and 412,784 confirmed COVID-19 cases are under surveillance. (Antaranews)

The US government has officially extended the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) facilities for 700 Indonesian export products, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in a virtual press conference on Sunday.

The US extended the GSP facilities after the US Trade Representative (USTR) had since March 2018 evaluated GSP facilities granted to recipient countries including Indonesia.

"GSP is a trade facility in the form of import duty exemption the US government has granted unilaterally to developing countries in the world since 1974. Indonesia received the GSP facilities from the US for the first time ever in 1980," she said.

She said the Indonesian government has taken proactive steps to follow the process of import duty exemptions at various meetings with the US government representatives, including that with the US Secretary of State Michael Richard Pompeo during his visit to Indonesia in late October 2020.

"Indonesia has always raised the GSP issue at all meetings with the US. During the US Secretary of State's visit to Indonesia three days ago, we discussed again the GSP issue both at the bilateral meeting with me and during a courtesy call on the Indonesian President," she said.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahendra Siregar said Indonesia will likely be the only Asian country to receive the extension of GSP with reduction or cut from the US.

In the post-evaluation, 3,572 export products have been listed in the 8-digit US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or HS 8-digit receiving the GSP facilities. Of the total, 729 are export products from Indonesia.

"Indonesian export products receiving GSP facilities in 2019 came from 729 products out of 3,572 products receiving the GDP preferential tariff," Retno said.

She noted a rise in the value of Indonesian exports to the US using the GSP facilities this year.

"Indonesia's exports to the US using the GSP facilities from January to August 2020 were valued at US$1.87 billion (nearly Rp27.3 trillion), up 10.6 percent compared to the same period a year earlier,” the minister said.

According to data from the US International Trade Commission (USITC), Indonesia's exports using the GSP facilities to the US last year reached US$2.61 billion (nearly Rp38.2 trillion), or 13.1 percent of Indonesia's total exports to the US standing at US$20.1 billion (about Rp293.86 trillion). (Antaranews)