VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta (VOI NEWS)- President Joko Widodo received a courtesy call from Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban's delegation on Thursday at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta. In his remarks, President Joko Widodo expressed his appreciation for the bilateral cooperation that has existed between Indonesia and Hungary in the field of water supply. Jokowi also assured that he would study further the cooperation proposal submitted by the Hungarian side in the field of hospital construction. Hungary volunteered to collaborate with Indonesia to build a hospital focused on cancer therapy and a military hospital.

“First, of course on, our cooperation on clean water supply I appreciate the project completed in December 2019 and implemented in 36 locations in 12 provinces in Indonesia. I hope we can continue this good cooperation. Second, I take a note and will study further the proposal to develop 3 hospitals with oncology detection and treatment facilities and military hospitals. Third, on the e-toll cooperation please make sure that the document for the project is submitted by 31st of January 2020 at the latest. The bidding process will take place in April 2020,” said President Joko Widodo.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto who was present accompanying Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, said that Hungary supported the plan to grant visa-free for Indonesian citizens to the European Union. He also expressed his support for negotiating a free trade agreement between Indonesia and the European Union. According to him, it would provide benefits not only for Indonesia but also for ASEAN countries.

“ We believe that the Hungarian-Indonesian bilateral relationship can be a very good basis for the future improvement of the cooperation between the EU and the ASEAN region,” said Peter Szijjarto. (VOI/ANDY)

Trade negotiations between Indonesia and India are heading in new directions, with a focus on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a bilateral free trade arrangement India has already successfully entered with South Korea. It was stated by the Ambassador of India to Indonesia, Pradeep Kumar Rawat, in a special interview with Voice of Indonesia in Jakarta, Friday (24/01). The interview was conducted in conjunction with the 71st Republic Day of India which falls on January 26.

“Now that RCEP is more or less done, there are opportunities for us – for India and Indonesia – to go back and take a look at CEPA, to see that in our bilateral trading negotiations what is working best for our economies and what is not. And try and work out a trading arrangement which helps our economies to grow, to diversify and also to become more competitive globally,” said Ambassador Pradeep Kumar Rawat.

Ambassador Pradeep Kumar Rawat said India’s pharmaceutical and engineering services were a “strong” export, which Indonesia may be interested in the future, but that both countries could benefit from bilateral trading. The Ambassador hoped India and Indonesia could share a more “balanced and mature” relationship in future trade partnerships.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, known as RCEP, is a free trade deal between the member states of ASEAN and their five partner countries, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea, and India. RCEP was signed in 2017, but India opted out of the agreement only two years later, in November 2019. (VOI/LAURA GREEN/AHM)

Ambassador of India to Indonesia, Pradeep Kumar Rawat was very optimistic about trade in the palm oil industry despite the growing backlash the industry faces. It was stated by Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Pradeep Kumar Rawat in a special interview at Voice of Indonesia’s studio in Jakarta, Friday (24/01). During the interview, the ambassador talked about the close historical relationship between India and Indonesia and some of the potentials and challenges the two countries face, especially in the technology sector and the palm oil industry. Pradeep Kumar Rawat said that the leaders of both countries are placing significant emphasis on the relationship between the two countries. He also told that there are a lot of commonalities between India and Indonesia in the technology sector and stressed the importance of having technological cooperation.

"I would say the prospect is very good. India is already the largest importer of palm oil from Indonesia. And the trade is of close to US$5 billion. So, it's this large, I would say large amount and it's a large part of a trade and certainly, as the Indian economy grows, as our population grows, because we are still a growing population, the need for edible oil will certainly be large. The importance of India and Indonesia [technological] cooperation is that given the size and the diversity of our countries, our technology can be instrumental in providing better services and better connectivity," said Ambassador Pradeep Kumar Rawat.

Indonesia and India are aiming to reach a total of US$ 50 billion in trade cooperation by 2025. The current trades amount to only US$ 21 billion, predominantly arising through the trade of palm oil and coal. Ambassador Rawat said if the two countries can further diversify trade, considering the sizes of the Indian and Indonesian economy, the target of US$ 50 billion can even be called conservative. Ambassador Rawat was very optimistic about reaching this target considering that the size of India’s and Indonesia’s economy put together amounts to almost US$ 4 trillion. (VOI/SAYEE SHREE L.R/AHM)

Yogyakarta - Leaders of Political Parties, religious leaders, academics, and policymakers and religions from all over the world who are members of the Centrist Democrat International (CDI) gathered in Yogyakarta to attend the Executive Committee Meeting which takes place from 22 and 25 January 2020. The National Awakening Party (PKB) from Indonesia hosted this meeting. The meeting discussed the opportunities and challenges arising from the rolling process of forming a new world order which is likely to make Eurasia - the integration of Europe and Asia into a "supercontinent" as its focal point. Secretary-General of the Nahdlatul Ulama Council, K.H. Yahya Cholil Staquf said at a CDI meeting Thursday (24/1) that religious values ​​need to be well realized to encourage an international order based on human values.

"We need to articulate the widespread of acknowledgment of universal ethics and humanitarian frameworks and also that we need to empower the potential of religion such as western humanism, Christian democracy, and Islam. We need to empower this to serve as a foundation for the 21st-century alliance to promote a rules-based international order about universal ethics and humanitarian values," he said.

Meanwhile the National Awakening Party Chairman, Muhaimin Iskandar said, the Eurasia Forum was an unprecedented opportunity for world leaders to form 21st century alliances. He said, such an alliance would be realized based on shared human and universal values ​​that underlie their respective religious and cultural traditions. (VOI/FAISAL)