VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) officially opened the 2020 Climate Festival as an effort to disseminate information on Indonesia's climate change control policies.

"We intend this festival to disseminate, inform about various strategic policies to control climate change in Indonesia and their achievements," Deputy Minister of the Environment and Forestry Alue Dohong said in a virtual press conference in Jakarta, Wednesday.

Not only that, but the 2020 Climate Festival also commemorates the five years of the establishment of the Directorate General of Climate Change Control as part of KLHK.

Alue said the event was also to mark the implementation of commitments from the Paris Agreement which Indonesia had ratified through Law Number 16 of 2016 concerning Ratification of the Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Alue emphasized the important role of the Directorate General of PPI in achieving Indonesia's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, namely 29 percent with their own efforts and 41 percent with international assistance.

He said that this year the NDC commitment was implemented, the Directorate General of PPI played an important role in garnering participation and contributions from all stakeholders, not only state actors, such as ministries and institutions but also society, academics, and mass media.

"How do we push for our targets as we agreed on in the NDC we can achieve optimally," said Alue.

The 2020 Climate Festival will be held on October 7-27 with the theme "Strengthening Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Actions in the Recovery Period for the COVID-19 Pandemic".

Some of its activities include a series of webinars on current issues and virtual exhibitions on the theme of climate change. (Antaranews)

Global trade in goods is expected to fall 9.2 percent in 2020, but will be followed by a 7.2 percent increase in 2021, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Tuesday in its latest statement on revised world trade predictions.

In April, the WTO had forecast a decline in the volume of world trade in goods for this year of between 13 percent and 32 percent as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts economic activity and normal life around the world.

"World trade is showing signs of bouncing back from the deep decline caused by COVID-19," explained the WTO economists in a press release.

It added that "the strong trading performance in June and July has brought some signs of optimism for overall trade growth in 2020."

However, the WTO's latest forecast for next year is more pessimistic than the previous forecast of 21.3 percent growth, leaving goods trade well below its pre-pandemic 2021 trend.

The WTO warned that "the impact of the ongoing pandemic could disrupt any recovery. "

WTO Deputy Director-General Yi Xiaozhun told a press conference that the trade impact of the crisis has differed dramatically across the region, with "relatively moderate declines" in trade volumes in Asia and "stronger contractions" in Europe and North America.

WTO senior economist Coleman Nee explained that "China supports trade in the (Asian) region" and "Chinese import demand underpins intra-regional trade" and "helps contribute to global demand". Although the decline in trade during the COVID-19 pandemic was of similar magnitude to the 2008-09 global financial crisis, the economic context is very different, said WTO economists.

"The contraction in GDP has been much stronger in the current recession, while the decline in trade has been more moderate," they said.

The volume of world merchandise trade is expected to fall only about twice as much as world GDP, rather than six times during the 2009 collapse. (Antaranews)

The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has issued emergency use authorization (EUA) for two antiviral drugs, favipiravir, and remdesivir, to treat COVID-19 patients.

The BPOM also granted permits in September to several pharmaceutical companies to produce the drugs.

Data from the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister show that the government had previously given contractors the go-ahead to import COVID-19 medication such as remdesivir, favipiravir, oseltamivir, and lopinavir-ritonavir, all of which will be distributed directly to hospitals treating coronavirus patients.

BPOM head Penny K Lukito expects that the emergency use authorization issuance will help accelerate access to those drugs for hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

Hopefully, the drugs will help improve COVID-19 recovery rates and bring down the mortality rate from the pandemic.

Penny Lukito further said she hoped doctors and health workers would cooperate in monitoring the efficacy and safety of those drugs under pharmacovigilance. (JakartaPost)

World Health Organization (WHO) stated that about one in 10 people might be infected with the Coronavirus (COVID-19). This makes a large part of the world's population vulnerable to the COVID-19 disease caused by this deadly virus.

As reported by Channel News Asia, Tuesday, WHO emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, said that the Corona pandemic has soared in several Southeast Asian countries, as well as increasing in parts of Europe and the East Mediterranean region.

"Our current best estimates tell us about 10 percent of the global population may have been infected by this virus. It varies depending on the country, it varies from urban to rural, it varies depending on groups. But what it does mean is that the vast majority of the world remains at risk. We are now heading into a difficult period. The disease continues to spread,” Mike Ryan's statement was delivered while giving an explanation to the WHO Executive Board in which the United States (US) launched a covert attack to China for what he called a failure to provide accurate and timely information about Corona.

WHO and other experts claimed that the Coronavirus, which is believed to have emerged on a food market at Wuhan city, China late last year, came from animals. WHO deployed a number of its experts on an international mission to China to investigate the origins of the Coronavirus, for being considered by Chinese authorities. 

US Assistant Secretary of Health, Brett Giroir, stated that it was imperative for the 194 WHO member countries to receive regular and timely developments so that all countries can be involved in the process and have confidence in the results.

Germany, speaking for the European Union, said that an expert mission has to be deployed immediately, while Australia supporting a swift investigation.

Meanwhile, Russia's Deputy Health Minister, Alexandra Dronova, called for an evaluation of the legal and financial impact of the US government announcing its effective exit from WHO in July next year. (CNA)