VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday for meetings seen as setting the stage for a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who has stepped up cooperation with politically isolated North Korea.

Lavrov's two-day visit comes a month after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a rare trip to Russia, during which he invited Putin to Pyongyang and discussed military cooperation, including over North Korea's satellite program and the war in Ukraine. 

Putin's foreign minister, who last visited North Korea in 2018, will hold talks with his North Korean counterpart, according to the Interfax news agency.

Russia's TASS news agency reported that Lavrov may brief the North Koreans on the results of Putin's visit to China, as well as discussing Putin's potential visit.

Calling each other "comrade", Putin and Kim toasted their friendship last month with Russian wine.

Courting Kim allows Putin, who says Moscow is locked in an existential battle with the West over Ukraine, to needle Washington and its Asian allies while potentially securing a deep supply of artillery for the Ukraine war.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim on Tuesday called relations between North Korea and Russia "worrying," after the White House said last week Pyongyang had recently supplied weapons to Russia.

A growing number of reports by the U.S. government and Western researchers have documented with satellite imagery what they say are North Korean weapons shipments to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the Western allegations were not based on evidence.

"They report about it all the time - they don't provide any evidence," Peskov said, according to TASS. Peskov said Russia would continue to build its relations with North Korea.

On Monday the British Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) released dozens of high-resolution commercial satellite images that it said showed two Russian ships with connections to Russia's military logistics networks making multiple trips to North Korea.

The two ships had moved several hundred containers to and from a port in North Korea since August, the RUSI report said.

Although acknowledging it was impossible to confirm their contents, the report said containers of the same size and colour were later seen being delivered to a recently expanded Russian munitions storage facility near the border with Ukraine.

North Korea is heavily sanctioned over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, and U.N. Security Council resolutions - approved at the time with Russia's support - ban cooperation with Pyongyang on military issues as well as in a range of other areas. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia's Manpower Ministry collaborated with the Austrian Government in vocational and work-based training through assistance in increasing workforce competency at the Serang Vocational and Productivity Training Center (BBPVP).

"This program is a form of collaboration between the two governments to develop vocational training centers at three places, including Medan, Serang, and Makassar," Indonesian Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah said in Serang on Wednesday.

The inauguration of operations of the Maritime Job Training Center (BLK) at BBPVP Serang marked the completion of all construction activities for workshops, procurement of training equipment, and program development for two majors, including welding and electrical engineering, she remarked.

"Job seekers looking for upskilling can start the program now," Fauziyah remarked.

Moreover, her side has signed a cooperation agreement with 50 companies in Banten Province to open job opportunities for training participants.

"This aims to guarantee the future of these training participants. During the training, we will give them training, certification, and end with job placement," the minister revealed.

According to Fauziyah, development of the Maritime BLK at BBPVP Serang was one of the ministry's nine efforts to reduce unemployment by preparing workers' competencies.

"We can reduce unemployment by preparing their competencies, according to the needs of the business world and the industrial sector," she remarked.

Meanwhile, Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia Thomas Loidl stated that diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Austria will enter the 70th year in 2024.

"For years, the two countries have worked together very well, and reduced weaknesses to good cooperation, he affirmed.

Loidl stated that the current program is targeted at the welding and electricity sectors to open more opportunities in Banten's job market.

For training and financing, this program is supported by project loan funds from the Austrian Government. Everything can hopefully run well and according to expectations, he remarked. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Indonesian government sought investment cooperation with countries in the Asia-Africa region at the 61st Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali.

"We are committed to forming regulations in line with the needs of business owners," Director General of General Legal Administration at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Cahyo R. Muzhar, said on the sidelines of the meeting on Tuesday.

In order to accommodate the needs of business owners, the Indonesian government cut bureaucratic regulations on 3 thousand national regulations concerning investment in 2019, he informed.

Since 2018, the government has also carried out licensing simplification with the help of the Online Single Submission (OSS) system, he added.

"Indonesia has a big influence on the Asian economy and is the largest economy in Southeast Asia," Muzhar noted.

In addition, to strengthen the domestic economy, the government is providing financial assistance and training to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to increase their capacity, he informed.

With the economy of the Asia-Africa region estimated to reach US$54 trillion in 2023 or 42 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), Indonesia is offering business convenience to AALCO member countries, he added.

"Moreover, Indonesia also guarantees security and ensures that our business entities will not be used for illegal transactions such as money laundering and terrorism financing," Muzhar said.

Based on data from the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), investment realization in Indonesia reached Rp1,207.2 trillion in 2022, an increase of 34 percent compared to 2021.

Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Malaysia were the five countries of origin for investment flowing into Indonesia in 2022.

AALCO was formed in 1956 after the Asian-African Conference or Bandung Conference of 1955, with a total of 47 member countries.

This year, Indonesia is hosting the meeting for the third time after Jakarta in 1968 and Bali in 2004. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), on Wednesday, met with Zhao Leji, Chairman of China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), in Beijing to discuss the comprehensive strategic partnership between Indonesia and China.

"The comprehensive strategic partnership between Indonesia and China has been fostered for 10 years. We should continue to maintain it in the hopes of strengthening our ties," President Jokowi remarked at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing.

The president met with Zhao after attending the opening ceremony of The Third Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation at the same venue.

"And I appreciate the well-fostered cooperation between the parliaments of both countries," he stated.

President Jokowi noted that the governments of Indonesia and China had agreed to further solidify cooperation in various fields.

"We need support from the parliaments in this context," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Chairman Zhao, on his part, highlighted that Indonesia had become one of the most important partners of China within the cooperation framework of the "Belt and Road Initiative."

"President Xi Jinping unveiled the Belt and Road Initiative 10 years ago," he remarked, adding that under the strategic leadership of President Xi and President Jokowi, both countries have been eager to sustain the initiative.

He further noted that mutually beneficial cooperation had resulted in expected progress that positively affected regional economic cooperation.

After attending the meeting that lasted 15 minutes, the Indonesian head of state and his entourage proceeded to join a lunch session.

During the meeting, President Jokowi was accompanied by ad-interim Maritime Affairs and Investment Coordinating Minister Erick Thohir, Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun.

Earlier, on Tuesday (October 17), President Jokowi also met with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang in Beijing.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), or One Belt One Road (OBOR), is a program introduced by the President of China Xi Jinping in 2013.

President Xi devised the program to bring back the glory of the Silk Road to the 21st century. To that end, the president has been directing his country to invest and build infrastructure on a massive scale in as many as 152 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Africa.

The word "Belt" in BRI is the short for the "Silk Road Economic Belt" that refers to the vision of connecting China to countries in Central Asia, South Asia, and Europe with road and rail routes.

Meanwhile, the word "Road" is derived from the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" that refers to China's aspiration to establish sea paths connecting it to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, West Africa, and Europe.

Indonesia has received funding from China under the BRI to work on several projects, such as energy projects, water management, agriculture, and rail-based means of mass transport, namely the Light Rail Transit (LRT) trains and the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Trains (KCJB).

The KCJB, which was inaugurated by President Jokowi in early October this year, can transport people from Jakarta to Bandung in just 36-44 minutes since the trains reach a top speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

In addition to Indonesia, 146 countries have signed a deal with China under the BRI program that has resulted in various transportation infrastructure, including the China-Laos Railway, China-Europe Railway Express, and Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya. (Antaranews)