VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga agreed on the importance of establishing a "Travel Corridor Arrangement" (TCA) for essential businesses between the two countries.

President Jokowi and PM Suga agreed on the importance of establishing essential businesses in a bilateral meeting held at the Bogor Presidential Palace, Tuesday.

"We also agreed to assign the Japanese and Indonesian Foreign Ministers to negotiate the details and finish them within one month," said President Jokowi.

The two leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen economic cooperation.

According to President Jokowi, Japan is one of Indonesia's strategic partners in the economic sector.

The visit of PM Suga and Mrs. Mariko Suga to Indonesia on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, was part of the series of PM Suga's first visit after being inaugurated as prime minister on September 16, 2020.

President Joko Widodo said that this visit showed the importance of Indonesia and the Southeast Asia region.

"This also reflects our shared commitment to continue to strengthen the strategic partnership between Japan and Indonesia. In the midst of an uncertain world, this visit shows that we choose to work together and support each other," said President Jokowi.

Meanwhile, PM Suga said he was very happy to visit Indonesia, which is a large country in ASEAN, on his first overseas trip since he was prime minister.

He is also committed to continuing to work with Indonesia.

"Japan will cooperate and join hands with Indonesia for the peace and prosperity of this region, based on the strategic partnership between the two countries, which is strengthened by my visit to Indonesia this time," said PM Suga. (Antaranews)

UNICEF, the United Nations agency that provides humanitarian assistance to children, on Monday (19/10) said it had secured about 520 million syringes ahead of the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The procurement is part of a broader push to accumulate 1 billion syringes by 2021 to help deliver vaccines.

"Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 will be one of the greatest mass efforts in human history, and we must act as quickly as a vaccine can be produced," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.

"In order for the future to go fast, we must act quickly now. By the end of this year, we will have more than half a billion syringes stored where they can be quickly distributed and cost-effective," he said.

The coronavirus has been raging around the world since it was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, last December.

To date, over 40 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19 and over 1.1 million have died from the disease, according to data from US-based Johns Hopkins University. (Antaranews)

The visit of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to Indonesia on October 20-21 2020 is expected to provide meaningful messages and results for bilateral relations between Indonesia and Japan.

Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu conveyed this hope to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi via telephone conversation, Monday (19/10).

"Foreign Minister Motegi hopes that the Prime Minister's visit will be meaningful so that bilateral relations (with Indonesia,) which is a strategic partner will be stronger," said the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta, in a written statement received Tuesday.

Suga chose Vietnam and Indonesia as his first destination for foreign trips after he was appointed prime minister of Japan to replace Shinzo Abe, who resigned due to illness.

Related to that, Retno, referring to the same source, said that the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo welcomed PM Suga's visit to Indonesia.

President Jokowi, according to Retno, is looking forward to the bilateral meeting between Indonesia and Japan, which is scheduled to take place at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, Tuesday.

PM Suga is scheduled to land at Soekarno Hatta International Airport Tuesday afternoon and arrive at the Bogor Palace in the afternoon. PM Suga, who is accompanied by his wife Mariko Suga, plans to attend a welcoming ceremony and take part in tree planting activities at the Bogor Palace.

PM Suga and President Joko Widodo are scheduled to attend a bilateral meeting at the Bogor Palace in the evening.

During his visit to Indonesia, PM Suga will also hold a press conference for media from Indonesia and Japan in Jakarta, Wednesday.

In the same place, he may also meet Japanese businessmen and Japanese alumni associations in Indonesia.

Before leaving for Tokyo on Wednesday, PM Suga is scheduled to visit the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery, Jakarta. (Antaranews)

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said the number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia is still very low when compared to countries in Southeast Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

"According to the 2018 Entrepreneurship Global Index, the number of Indonesian entrepreneurs is still very small if we compare it to neighboring countries such as Malaysia (6 percent), Thailand (5 percent) and Singapore (7 percent)," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin when opening the Meeting Cross-Sector Strategic Coordination of Online Youth Service Delivery from Jakarta, Tuesday.

This condition becomes a reference that economic progress in Indonesia is still lagging behind Southeast Asia countries.

According to Ma'ruf, the ratio of the number of entrepreneurs reflects the progress of a country's economy.

"Whereas entrepreneurship is one of the keys to determining the success of economic development. It has become a rule-of-thumb that the ratio of the number of entrepreneurs in a country reflects its economic progress," added Vice President Ma'ruf Amin.

Entrepreneurship is a business activity carried out by business actors independently. This means, continued Ma'ruf, business actors determine the type of product, method of production, marketing, capital, including business risks.

Therefore, the Vice President encourages awareness and knowledge about entrepreneurship that needs to be grown from an early age so that more and more young entrepreneurs can encourage economic growth in Indonesia.

"I strongly agree that we need to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age. Through a higher entrepreneurial spirit, it is hoped that more and more new entrepreneurs will open up new jobs," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin.

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin hopes that the coordination meeting held by the Ministry of Youth and Sports can produce concrete efforts to create young entrepreneurs in Indonesia.

"One of the things to remember is that being an entrepreneur means starting from something small. Entrepreneurs will not think that their business will become big in an instant. This is the art of entrepreneurship, you must be brave to start from a small business and even a micro-business," said the Vice President. (Antaranews)