VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - A board member of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), Erick Thohir, has reiterated Indonesia's readiness to welcome international basketball players who will compete in the 2023 FIBA World Cup from August 25 to September 3.

This readiness can also be seen in the completion of the Indonesia Arena — the country's biggest indoor stadium, capable of accommodating 16,000 spectators — at the Gelora Bung Karno complex in Jakarta.

"Within a month, the 2023 FIBA World Cup will draw the world's attention to Indonesia," Thohir said in a statement received on Friday.

Indonesia now has a new magnificent indoor stadium that is ready to welcome the Spanish national team, the top-ranked and the current defending champion of the tournament, he added.

"That being said, we must be ready to properly host the championship in the hopes of demonstrating Indonesia's positive reputation to the world," he said during a dinner with representatives of the countries scheduled to compete in the World Cup in Jakarta on Thursday.

The dinner was organized by the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) and attended by the Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia, Francisco Aguilera Aranda; the Lebanese Embassy's Charge d'Affaires, Vazken Kavlakian; Iranian Charge d'Affaires, Mahdi Rounagh; the Brazilian Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission; and the Canadian Embassy's Charge d'Affaires, Mark Strasser.

Thohir was accompanied by the 2023 FIBA World Cup local ambassador, Raffi Ahmad, chairperson of the 2023 FIBA World Cup joint management committee, and deputy secretary-general of Perbasi, Rufiana.

"I saw great enthusiasm expressed by the representatives of friendly countries. They are keen to watch their national basketball teams competing in the Indonesia Arena. After all, the FIBA World Cup constitutes a quadrennial event with a level comparable to the Olympics," he said.

Thohir, who is also serving as the State-Owned Enterprises Minister, asked Indonesian sports enthusiasts, especially basketball lovers, to make the most of this rare opportunity by directly coming to witness the matches of world-class basketball players, including those playing in the prestigious US-based National Basketball Association (NBA) championship.

"This is a rare chance. Even though we are co-hosting with Japan and the Philippines, it should be noted that nothing guarantees us that we will have a similar opportunity to host a Basketball World Cup in the coming one or two decades," he added.

He also referred to Indonesia's experience as the host of the 2018 Asian Games as well as its designation as the host of the upcoming U-17 FIFA World Cup.

"This is our chance to demonstrate Indonesia's progress to the eyes of the world," he said.

A total of 32 countries will compete in this year's edition of the FIBA World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines.

Indonesia has designated Jakarta as the venue for the preliminary round matches of Group G comprising Spain, Iran, and the Ivory Coast, as well as Group H — Canada, Latvia, Lebanon, and France.

The NBA players who will take part in the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Jakarta are as follows:

Group G

• Brazil: Raul Neto (from Cleveland Cavaliers)
• Spain: Ricky Rubio (Cleveland Cavaliers), Santi Aldama (Memphis Grizzlies), Usman Garuba (Atlanta Hawks)

Group H

• Canada: Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC Thunder), RJ Barrett (New York Knicks), Dillon Brooks (Houston Rockets), Lu Dort (OKC Thunder), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Minnesota Timberwolves), Kelly Olynyk (Utah Jazz), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks), Oshae Brissett (Boston Celtics), Cory Joseph (Golden State Warriors)
• France: Frank Ntilikina (Dallas Mavericks), Nicolas Batum (Los Angeles Clippers), Evan Fournier (New York Knicks), Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves)
• Latvia: Kristaps Porzingis (Boston Celtics), Davis Bertans (OKC Thunder)

Ticket sales for the 2023 FIBA World Cup opened online on the federation's website on July 11, with the cheapest tickets priced at Rp100,000 (approximately US$7). (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Minister of Investment and Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia has said that the government will revoke some investment incentives following increasing investment outside Java.

The government will be selective in providing additional revenue for projects, especially after development efforts start to show a significant impact, he informed.

"For example, the construction of a nickel pig iron (NPI) with an added value of less than 50 percent will not be receiving a tax holiday from the government. We have to be selective in order to provide additional income to the state," Lahadalia said during a presentation on investment realization during the second quarter, in Jakarta on Friday.

According to him, the same thing will also apply to other sectors, including those related to development outside Java.

In line with President Joko Widodo's direction to encourage Indonesia-centric development, development was also pushed outside Java with additional incentives offered to attract investment, he noted.

Since the third quarter of 2020, investment realization outside Java has become stable, surpassing investment realization within Java, Lahadalia said.

As of the second quarter of 2023, investment realization outside Java reached Rp182 trillion, accounting for 52 percent of the total investment realization of Rp349.8 trillion during the April–June 2023 period, while investment realization in Java reached Rp167.8 trillion or 48 percent of the total investment realization, he added.

Cumulatively, during January–June 2023, investment realization outside Java reached Rp354.9 trillion (52.3 percent), while investment realization in Java reached Rp323.8 trillion (47.7 percent), he said.

"Since the third quarter of 2020, or for 12 consecutive quarters, there has been more investment outside Java. This shows that the results of the infrastructure development carried out by President Joko Widodo and former Vice President Jusuf Kalla are now being felt. The development progress in Indonesia cannot be done within a night and needs measurable methods," he added.

Earlier, the minister said that the government had provided special incentives for investments outside Java. This was done to encourage uniform distribution of investment and its economic impact outside Java. (antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Soekarno Hatta International Airport is ranked first on the Airports Council International (ACI) list of busiest airports in Southeast Asia for 2022, according to state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II.

This Cengkareng-based airport also ranked third on ACI's list of busiest airports in the Asia-Pacific region, Angkasa Pura II President Director, Muhammad Awaluddin, noted in a statement here Friday.

ACI World had published the latest World Airport Traffic Dataset on July 19 showing that airports in the United States still dominated the world's top 20 busiest airports.

According to ACI's official website, the dataset also showed "airport passenger, cargo, and aircraft movement rankings for over 2,600 airports across more than 180 countries and territories."

Awaluddin remarked that the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport's success in joining the list of busiest airports in the Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific regions revealed the outcomes of all stakeholders' hard work.

Last year, Indonesia's aviation sector was still challenged by the impacts of the global pandemic of novel coronavirus but it had entered a recovery period, he remarked.

"In the recovery period, AP II and all its stakeholders continue to strengthen the domestic and international flight connectivity to help boost economic growth and pandemic mitigation efforts," he remarked.

Awaluddin attributed the strengthening of flight connectivity to the sound collaborations among stakeholders and full support from the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry and Transportation Ministry.

The strengthened connectivity was apparent from the reopening of flight routes that had been closed during COVID-19; increasing the frequency of existing flight routes; and the opening of new flight routes, he remarked.

These collaborative efforts had made the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport the busiest in Southeast Asia and ranked third on ACI's list of busiest airports in the Asia-Pacific region, he stated.

According to ACI, for 2022, the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport's passenger traffic was recorded at 39.60 million people, while the global passenger traffic reached 6.6 billion people, he noted.

Meanwhile, AP II's Director of Engineering Agus Wialdi remarked that the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport's success was the result of good facility and infrastructure maintenance in air and on land.

As a result, in 2022, the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport had also ranked ninth on the list of Best Airport Staff in Asia, he remarked.  (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia is ready to become a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has said.

"I spoke with (OECD) Secretary-General Mathias Corman to convey that Indonesia is ready to become a member of the OECD. The response has been very positive, and Indonesia is now a key partner, which means we are invited to every OECD meeting," Hartarto informed.

If Indonesia becomes a member of the OECD, it will be the third country in Asia after Japan and South Korea to join the cooperation organization based in France, he noted at the 2023 Indonesia Data and Economic Conference (IDE) in Jakarta on Thursday.

He said it is important for Indonesia to become a member of the OECD because that will allow it to apply higher standards in the entire legislative process, both in the process of forming legislations to the types of regulations and standards that will be applied at each ministry and institution.

According to him, Indonesia deserves to be an OECD member since, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has again become an upper middle-income country, successfully organized the G20 Summit, and led the ASEAN Summit amid difficult situations ranging from pandemic, war, and climate change.

"We have succeeded in making breakthroughs and at the same time, grounding the G20 with various programs, including the launch of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure, JPP, and others," he said.

There are many programs that have been grounded from the G20 meeting and this has never happened before, so hopefully, in the next few years, Indonesia will become the third country in Asia to be included in the OECD group, Hartarto disclosed.

The OECD is an intergovernmental organization (IGO) that was founded in 1961 to encourage economic cooperation among countries. Currently, the developed country organization has 38 member countries.

Based on Article 1 of the OECD convention, the organization was established to "achieve sustainable economic growth, employment, and the highest standard of living among its member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and contributing to world economic development."

The organization also promotes policies that contribute to economic expansion, both in member and non-member countries. Another objective of its policy is to promote regulations that expand world trade on a multilateral and non-discriminatory basis, in line with international obligations. (Antaranews)