VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria held the annual Indonesian Market to popularize and promote Indonesian culinary delights in Africa.

"This year, even though it was held on a smaller scale, we are still holding the Indonesian Market with high enthusiasm to introduce archipelago culinary specialties and various Indonesian products," said the Indonesian Ambassador to South Africa Salman Al Farisi in a written statement received in Jakarta, on Monday. 

"With this event, we hope that Indonesia can be known in South Africa and open up various opportunities for cooperation between the two parties," said Ambassador Salman.

The Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria this year adjusts the scale of activities to the situation and conditions of the accredited country, especially regarding the implementation of health protocols related to COVID-19 during the first level of lockdown (lockdown level 1). Various obligations are carried out, such as the use of masks, hand sanitizer, and the application of social distancing.

The Indonesian market this year was attended by the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in Johannesburg, the Dharma Wanita Persatuan (DWP) of the Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria, and the diaspora of culinary entrepreneurs in South Africa. 

The ITPC Johannesburg promotes domestic fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), most of which have entered the South African market, while the DWP Kiosk of the Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria sells handicrafts and typical Indonesian food products ranging from batik, various fried foods to chicken satay.

The Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria facilitated six culinary entrepreneurs in South Africa to enliven activities and introduce a variety of Indonesian dishes.

During the event from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., festival visitors were seen enjoying various typical archipelago preparations such as rendang, fried rice, fried noodles, chicken satay, warm, and chocolate banana.

The high enthusiasm of the people of South Africa can be seen from the busy number of visitors during the activity and the exhaustion of all the food sold by the sellers at Market Indonesia stands.

On the sidelines of the activity, Ambassador Salman also met a delegation of businessmen from Mpumalanga Province who wanted to find out more about the potential for trade and investment cooperation between Indonesia and South Africa.

The success of the Indonesian Market in attracting residents of Pretoria, Johannesburg, and outside Gauteng Province to this year's event shows that Indonesia has a separate position for the people of South Africa and shows the relationship between the two countries is going well.

Previously, the Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria had organized similar activities in 2018 at Wisma Duta Pretoria and in 2019 at the Loftus Park shopping center with a wider variety of events and a wide selection of locations.

This year the Indonesian Embassy in Pretoria chose the location of the event at Hazel Food Market, which is a weekly market in Pretoria that is strategically located, has a good reputation and is equipped with adequate facilities. (Antaranews)

President Joko Widodo appointed 12 Extraordinary Ambassadors and Full Authority of the Republic of Indonesia for friend countries at the State Palace, in Jakarta, on Monday.

The appointment of the 12 ambassadors is based on the Decision Letter (Presidential Decree) No. 106 / P of 2020 on the Appointment of Extraordinary Ambassador and Full Authority of the Republic of Indonesia dated 19 October 2020. The President then took the oath for all the appointed ambassadors.

"I solemnly swear that I will be appointed as an extraordinary ambassador and in full power will be loyal to the Constitution of 1945 and will carry out all legal regulations in a straightforward manner for the sake of my dharma devotion to the nation and country," said President Joko Widodo led the swearing-in ceremony of the ambassadors at the Jakarta State Palace.

Present at the inauguration were Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and other related officials.

"I will faithfully carry out all the orders and instructions given by the central government and I will faithfully fulfill all other obligations imposed on me by the Extraordinary and Fully Powerful department," said the President.

The twelve names of the Extraordinary Ambassador and Full Authority (LBBP) of the Republic of Indonesia are:

1. Dindin Wahyudin, Ambassador of LBBP RI for the Republic of Senegal cum Republic of Cabo Verde, Republic of Gambia, Republic of Guinea, Republic of Guinea Bissau, Republic of Mali, Republic of Ivory Coast, and Republic of Sierra Leone is located in Dakar
2. Roem Kono, Ambassador LBBP RI for Bosnia and Herzegovina, is based in Sarajevo
3. Dewi Savitri Wahab, Ambassador LBBP RI for the Government of Denmark cum Republic of Lithuania, is based in Copenhagen
4. Nana Yuliana, Ambassador LBBP RI for Republic of Cuba cum Commonwealth of Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Haiti located in Havana
5. Heri Akhmadi, Ambassador LBBP RI for Japan cum Federation of Micronesia, based in Tokyo
6. Elmar Iwan Lubis, Ambassador LBBP RI for the Republic of Iraq, based in Baghdad
7. Iwan Bogananta, Ambassador LBBP RI for the Republic of Bulgaria cum Republic of Albania and the Republic of Macedonia, based in Sofia
8. Jose Antonio Morato Tavares, Ambassador LBBP RI for the Russian Federation to Belarus, based in Moscow
9. Desra Believe, Ambassador LBBP RI to the United Kingdom and Ireland and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), based in London
10. Chalief Akbar Tjandraningrat, Ambassador LBBP RI to the People's Republic Algeria, Algeria
11. Lutfi Rauf, LBBP RI Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt, Cairo
12. Rachmat Budiman, LBBP RI Ambassador to the Government of Thailand cum United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) Bangkok.

After taking the oath, the LBPP ambassadors received congratulations from President Jokowi and took a photo together. (Antaranews)

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry is organizing a climate village program or ProKlim to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 29 percent.

In his remarks at the Climate Festival on Friday (23/10/20) in Jakarta, the Secretary-General of the ministry, Bambang Hendroyono explained that the government is targeting to form 20,000 climate villages in Indonesia by the end of 2024.

"ProKlim is a joint adaptation mitigation action or a combination of climate change mitigation adaptation. It is Indonesia's comparative advantage in translating global commitments into concrete actions that touch down to the site level and can move various parties to play an active role in realizing a climate-resilient and low GHG emission Indonesia," he said

"ProKlim locations is 2,775 by this year. It needs to increase both in terms of the number and quality of its activities, considering that there are still many villages / sub-districts that need touch and assistance," he said.

"With active participation and support from all parties, at least we can make 20,000 climate villages throughout Indonesia by the end of 2024," Bambang added.

The Climate Village Program (ProKlim) is a national program managed by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to increase the involvement of the community and other stakeholders to strengthen adaptation capacity to the impacts of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, also to provide recognition of adaptation and mitigation efforts.

This program aims to improve welfare at the local level in accordance with regional conditions. (VOI)

The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 said that until October 23, 2020, there was an increase of 4,094 patients recovering from the COVID-19 disease, bringing the total to 305,100 people.

Based on data collected until Friday at 12.00 WIB, confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 were also recorded to have increased to 4,369 to a total of 381,910 cases. Meanwhile, the death toll was recorded to have increased by 118 people to a total of 13,077 people.

Based on the distribution of the number of cases, DKI Jakarta recorded the highest number of recovered patients, namely 1,093 people, 952 positive cases, and 21 dead cases.

Then, West Sumatra reported 523 new recovered cases, 257 positive cases and 7 deaths, Central Java 470 people recovered with 571 positive people and 15 people died, East Java 341 cases recovered, 295 positive people and 12 people died.

Next, West Java recorded 319 cases recovered with 504 people confirmed positive and 10 cases died, Riau 252 people recovered with 276 positive people and 6 people died, while East Kalimantan recorded 237 people recovered with 223 positive cases and 1 person reported dying from COVID-19.

The COVID-19 Task Force also said there were 2 provinces that reported new cases under 10 and 3 provinces that today reported no additional cases, namely Bangka Belitung, West Sulawesi, and Gorontalo.

Then, the COVID-19 Task Force also recorded 161,763 suspected cases spread across 501 districts/cities and 34 provinces throughout Indonesia.

Meanwhile, 42,287 specimens were examined on Friday, using both real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) examination and molecular rapid test (TCM). (Antaranews)