VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo hopes that the Faculty of Forestry, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) will be able to develop innovation in the era of disruption to advance the forestry sector in Indonesia.

"I believe that the UGM Faculty of Forestry can develop innovations in the current era of disruption, and hijack disruption for the leap forward in Indonesian forestry," said President Jokowi at the Open Senate Meeting in the 57th Anniversary of the UGM Faculty of Forestry online and monitored in Yogyakarta, Friday.

According to the President, forestry science always occupies a central position in managing the relationship between people and nature, especially between people and forests.

The President said Indonesia is entering an era of a prolonged tug-of-war between forests in an agricultural concept, an industrial concept, and a post-industrial concept.

In reality, Jokowi continued, forest-based agrarization and industrialization are still the most important economic sectors.

However, according to him, the concepts of agrarization and industrialization are often contradicted with post-industrial concepts which are conservative and conservative.

"In this regard, I hope the Faculty of Forestry UGM to find common ground to find this bridge is the task to study and develop new UGM concepts," said Jokowi, who is also an alumnus of the UGM Faculty of Forestry.

One solution that should be taken into account, according to the President, is the use of digital technology by developing "precision forestry".

The technology can calculate accurately and precisely with the use of digital and computational technology and utilize analytical data and artificial intelligence development.

"With the help of this technology, we can develop a combined spirit of forest use in agricultural and industrial concepts without sacrificing post-industrial use," he added. (Antaranews)

Coronavirus cases reported in Europe more than doubled in 10 days, passing 200,000 daily infections for the first time on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, with many Southern European countries reporting their highest one-day cases this week.

Europe recorded 100,000 daily cases for the first time on October 12. Europe has so far reported about 7.8 million total coronavirus cases and around 247,000 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.

European countries such as Italy, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia recorded their highest one-day coronavirus cases on Thursday.

Europe reports more daily cases than India, Brazil and the United States combined. The increase is partly explained by far more testing than was carried out in the first wave of the pandemic. The global coronavirus count reached around 41.4 million cases and around 1.1 million deaths.

According to Reuters, Wednesday, the highest total infections reported in a single day worldwide, at 422,835. Currently, Europe accounts for nearly 19 percent of global cases and about 22 percent of global deaths, according to a Reuters tally.

In Western Europe, France, which reports the highest seven-day average of new cases in Europe with 25,480 infections per day, reported an all-time high of 41,622 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, according to French health authorities.

To slow the spread of the infection, French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday announced the expansion of a curfew due to the coronavirus to more than two-thirds of its population.

Another Western European country, the Netherlands, reported more than 9,000 in 24 hours, a new record, data released by the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) on Thursday. Germany, which reported more than 10,000 cases daily for the first time on Thursday, extended travel warnings for Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, large parts of Austria and Italy including Rome.

Hospitals across Europe remain depressed. Although that figure is still far below the level at the peak of the crisis six months ago in the region, COVID-19 hospital admissions and occupancy are increasing again.

A World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Monday, Europe and North America must follow the example of Asian countries that are sticking with anti-COVID measures and quarantining anyone who comes in contact with infected people. (Antaranews)

Defense Minister of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto held a bilateral meeting with French Defense Minister Florence Parly at the French Defense Ministry Office in Paris, Wednesday (21/10), according to a written statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Paris received by ANTARA, Thursday.

The two Defense Ministers at the meeting discussed the development of the situation and dynamics of the Indo-Pacific region.

France pays special attention to the Indo-Pacific region, considering that apart from owning territories, around 1.6 million people are in the Indo-Pacific Region.

In this context, the two ministers emphasized the importance of continuing to contribute to maintaining regional stability and security.

The two defense ministers specifically discussed the framework for future defense cooperation. The various advances that have been made in strengthening defense cooperation between the two countries this year, including efforts to advance Indonesia's defense industry, were welcomed by the two defense ministers.

"I have recorded rapid progress from the strategic partnership between Indonesia and France in the defense sector this year. Indonesia wants to continue to develop cooperation with France in various defense sectors, including strengthening the Indonesian Armed Forces defense equipment and advancing the capacity of the Indonesian defense industry as part of the global production chain defense equipment products, "said Defense Minister Prabowo.

Last January, the two defense ministers agreed to make a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA).

The agreement will cover comprehensive defense cooperation, such as cooperation in the fields of military education and training, maritime security, eradicating terrorism, developing the defense industry to strengthening capacity in disaster management such as the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the two countries.

In this regard, the two Defense Ministers asked the negotiating team to immediately complete the DCA, to be signed by the two ministers at the end of this year, as part of the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The meeting of the two defense ministers for the second time this year shows the intensification of communication and defense cooperation between the two countries.

"In the midst of a pandemic which requires various activities to be postponed, Indonesia-France cooperation in the defense sector is getting closer, not only from the intensity of communication between the two defense ministers but also by the activities of the strategic defense equipment cooperation working group which has been working twice this year," said the Ambassador RI Arrmanatha Nasir.

The Indonesian-French cooperation in the defense sector has been based on an agreement between the two countries in 2017 through a Letter of Intent (LoI) or a Statement of Intent to increase defense cooperation including maritime cooperation and maritime security.

Every year since 2013, bilateral defense cooperation in several fields such as training and education, mutual visits, and the eradication of terrorism have been discussed through the Indonesia-France Defense Dialogue (IFDD) forum. (Antaranews)

President Joko Widodo conveyed several priorities for the development of the coal derivative industry.

"There are several priorities that can be worked on, such as the coal gasification program or DME to gasify coal into syngas, which is needed by the petrochemical industry and DME which is very important as a substitute for LPG where our LPG is still imported so that it can reduce our LPG imports," said President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace Bogor, Friday.

President Jokowi conveyed this in a limited meeting on the topic Accelerating the Increasing Value of Coal through video conference.

DME or dimethyl ether was developed as an alternative fuel to replace LPG while syngas, which stands for "synthetic gas", is an energized gas produced through the coal gasification process to be used as raw material for chemical industries such as fertilizers and petrochemicals, electricity and city gas.

"I ask that the road map for the optimization of domestic coal be really accelerated by the application of environmentally friendly technology," added the President.

President Jokowi asked his ministers to determine the downstream product strategy he wanted to develop.

"So it is clear which direction we will go. How much will be converted into gas, how much will be converted into petrochemicals, and the areas that will be developed into the downstream coal industry anywhere, so it is clear what direction we are in," said the President.

The President also ordered that areas with reserves of coal resources should be sufficient to guarantee coal supply in the downstream coal industry.

"Previously, I would like to remind you that we all have to shift from exporting countries for raw materials and one of them is coal to become an industrial country that capable of processing raw materials into finished or semi-finished goods.

"I think this is a big strategy that we must be consistent in implementing it," said the President.

For this reason, the Indonesian coal industry is asked to move into the development of the coal derivative industry, starting from the "upgrading" quality improvement industry, manufacturing coal briquettes, manufacturing coke (high-calorie coal), coal liquefaction, coal gasification to molten coal mixture.

"I am sure that by developing this coal derivative industry, it can increase the added value of commodities many times over, reduce the 'core' of raw materials needed by domestic industries such as the steel industry, the petrochemical industry and no less importantly we can create as many jobs as possible," explained the President. (Antaranews)