VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said palm oil exports from Indonesia to destination countries had decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic and t affected the sustainability of palm oil farmers and business players.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, palm oil exports in Indonesia has decreased by around 11 percent in the first half of 2020," Ma'ruf Amin said when opening the Santripreneur Potential Development program based on Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives (UKMK) Palm Oil as an Economic Empowerment Program Area in Jakarta, Thursday.

Ma'ruf said that the oil palm commodity is a mainstay of the Government because the palm oil industry contributes quite a lot to national development.

Apart from being influential in the economic sector, the palm oil industry also has a strategic role.

"Indonesia is the largest palm oil-producing country in the world, controlling 55 percent of the global export market share. The oil palm industry and plantations can create ample job opportunities while improving the welfare of the surrounding community," he explained.

Because of the quarantine or lockdown policies in European countries and China, palm oil exports from Indonesia have weakened compared to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The main export destination country for Indonesian palm oil exports, which was dominated by Europe, has changed and diversified between others to India, China, and Africa," he said.

Even though palm oil exports are weakening, according to Ma'ruf, there is hope that domestic palm oil consumption has recorded positive growth.

"The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) noted that domestic consumption of palm oil in the first half of 2020 was 8.66 million tons or an accumulative increase of about 2.8 percent," he said.

To strengthen the palm oil industry in the domestic market, the Vice President asked for increased cooperation and collaboration from various related parties to increase the production and marketing of palm oil products.

"This collaboration is important to enlarge and accelerate the production, distribution, and marketing of palm oil products," he said. (Antaranews)

The Indonesian Government's efforts in reducing poverty were conveyed at the 15th Meeting of the Coordinating Body for the Standing Committee on Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation / OIC (COMCEC).

Social Affairs Minister Juliari P Batubara, in a written statement received in Jakarta, Thursday, stated that the Indonesian Delegation supports the recommendation of the research report from the COMCEC research team on urban poverty in Islamic countries.

"Several policy issues and recommendations related to development in the 'slum urban' area applies to conditions in Indonesia," Juliari said.

The efforts to reduce poverty by the Government of Indonesia are recorded in research conducted by the COMCEC team. The report addresses the main challenges of conceptualizing and measuring urban poverty focusing particularly on data collection and the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool in monitoring poverty in urban slum areas.

The Indonesian Delegation explained the poverty reduction strategies with various instruments, including one through the conditional cash transfer scheme as the Ministry of Social Affairs continues to encourage. 

The Indonesian delegation was represented by officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Head of Planning Bureau Adhy Karyono, as the Indonesian Focal Point for the COMCEC PAWG, and representatives from the Directorate-General for the Management of the Poor.

"The meeting highlighted intervention policies for OIC countries and identified one policy recommendation that can be implemented to reduce urban poverty in line with the 'New Urban' Agenda or SDG 11," Adhy said.

The government has developed strategies to accelerate poverty management, including through the Family Hope Program (PKH) and the Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT) Program.

With various social assistance, the poverty rate had decreased to reach 9.22 percent according to a survey by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in September 2019. (Antaranews)

Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto stated that apart from medical personnel and the public who work in medical facilities, workers aged 18-59 years will be the next priority to get the COVID-19 vaccine. 

"Priority for vaccines will be given to the frontline, namely all medical personnel and all people who work in medical facilities. Next, it will be given to people in the high-risk category, namely workers aged 18-59 years," Terawan said in a statement on Thursday, after a coordination meeting for the vaccination program, led by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Wednesday. 

Terawan said that the need for vaccination has reached 320 million doses.

"And with the vaccine use index, we must be able to provide 352 million doses of vaccine," he explained.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of state-owned enterprises (BUMN), Food and Drugs Agency (BPOM), and Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) are hand in hand in providing vaccine.

Deputy Minister of BUMN Budi Gunadi Sadikin explained that the vaccine storage capacity owned by SOEs has reached 123 million vaccines. Bio Farma and Kimia Farma as drug producers are procuring a Cold Chain Equipment Inventory up to contain 300 million vaccines.

On the same occasion, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi explained that various discussions had been held with related countries, such as China, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom regarding the commitment to provide vaccines for Indonesia.

"We have been communicating regularly with China, UAE, and the UK in providing vaccines for Indonesia. We have also arranged a time for international meetings to review further clinical trials and vaccine production which will be sent to Indonesia," he said.

The supplies for Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines will be imported from China. Head of BPOM Penny Kusumastuti Lukito said the technical team from his institution would conduct field visits to see the vaccine production lab and clinical trials that had been carried out.

During the visit, the vaccine delivery system will be discussed as well as its halal certification. Meanwhile, the Head of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, who is also the Head of the BNPB, Doni Monardo asked BPOM to coordinate with MUI to ensure the halalness of the COVID-19 vaccine.

"After checking the halalness, BPOM can coordinate with MUI to provide halal certification," he said.

To prepare a vaccination program that will be implemented soon, the Ministry of Health has compiled several steps in the readiness of health facilities in Indonesia.

Since Monday, training has been carried out for health workers regarding the procedures for this COVID-19 vaccination. In addition, two Puskesmas have been prepared which will be the places for simulation, namely the Abiansemal Puskesmas in Badung Regency, Denpasar, and the Tanah Sereal Puskesmas in Bogor, West Java.

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment who is also Deputy Chair of the Policy Committee for Control of COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan asked the Minister of Health, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Head of BPOM, Head of BNPB, and Deputy Minister of BUMN as meeting participants to continue to coordinate well in providing this vaccination.

"We must continue to maintain coordination well so we can immediately carry out vaccination in Indonesia. The Ministry of Health will make the vaccination simulation with other related agencies so vaccination can run well and smoothly," Luhut said. (Antaranews)

Chinese vaccine development company Sinovac Biotech and Indonesian pharmaceutical company Bio Farma have transferred technology for manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine. 

President Director of Bio Farma Honesti Basyir, in a media presentation with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Wednesday, stated that in connection with this the Sinovac delegation had visited the Bio Farma facility on Sep. 21-23, 2020.

"This visit focused on discussing the implementation of technology transfer. The production process and quality testing of the COVID-19 vaccine for Bio Farma, in addition to seeing Bio Farma's readiness to produce bulk vaccines from Sinovac," Honesti said.

He added that Sinovac also discussed its company's commitment to send raw materials for the COVID-19 vaccine gradually, namely 50 million doses in November 2020 to March 2021, and Bio Farma expects an additional 210 million doses from April 2021 to December 2021.

Development and testing of the Clinical Sinovac vaccine in Indonesia is in collaboration with Bio Farma with the Indonesian Health Research and Development Agency and the Indonesian Food and Drug Administration (BPOM).

"To maintain and ensure the quality of the COVID-19 vaccine, starting from its raw material, BPOM will conduct an audit visit to the vaccine development and production process at the Sinovac facility in Beijing, China, in early November," Honesti said.

The Phase III clinical trial of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in Bandung has been ongoing for over one month, with 1620 volunteers showing fairly good initial results without reports of significant side effects, and is targeted for completion in May 2021.

Meanwhile, Bio Farma will apply for vaccine registration through the Emergency Use Authorization mechanism by submitting an initial report on the immune response of vaccine users, which is scheduled for January 2021.

"While waiting for the clinical trial to be completed, preparation for vaccine production will start from November to December 2020. If clinical trials are successful, Bio Farma will start producing vaccines in January 2021," Honesti said. (Antaranews)