VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Trade Minister, Enggartiasto Lukita and South Korea Trade Minister, Hyun Chong Kim met in Jakarta on February 19 to discuss the way to enhance trade and economy relations between the two countries. During the meeting the two ministers agreed to reactivate Indonesia - Korea comprehensive economic partnership agreement (IK-CEPA). When met during the Indonesia - Korea business forum in Shangrilla Hotel, Jakarta on Tuesday (Feb19), Minister Enggartiasto mentioned that the initiation is targeted to reach 30 billion US Dollar.

“The relaunch of the agreement is also continued with Bisnis Forum which bring together Indonesian and Korean entrepreneurs. Therefore the target set by the two heads of states worth 30 billion US dollar in the next three years can be achieved. We agreed that the agreement will be signed in November at the meeting of the two heads of states, meaning that it must substantially be completed before November,” said Airlangga.

Minister Enggartiasto added that this negotiation aims to reach both countries bilateral economy target that is expected will increase bilateral trade and investment relations to the highest level. (VOI/NK/DP)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has expressed hope that the vocational training center (BLK) established in Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) would effectively improve skills of work forces.

"I believe that it could be more effective to improve their skills," Jokowi said at the signing of cooperation on batch 1 community-based vocational training center in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The government, he continued, is evaluating the community-based BLK program. In 2017, it established 55 community-based BLK, and it was increased to 75 training centers in 2018.

In 2019, the Ministry of Manpower would establish one thousand training centers, of which 500 centers would be launched in its first stage.

The president remarked that the training centers' effectiveness could be increased as it is established within the Islamic boarding school complex.

Furthermore, Jokowi has called on the training center to adjust the training material with the industry in the region.

"They (the boarding school) can choose whether they want to have training on information technology, garment, creative industry, or processing of agriculture product. There are many alternatives that they can choose," he elaborated.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has also opened the chance for graduates of the training center to be channeled to companies. (ANTARA)

Indonesia has thousands of cultural heritages originating from the traditions of its people. To gain the world’s recognition, Indonesian Government through the Ministry of Education and Culture in collaboration with UNESCO have conductied joint activities to record, promote and nominate the cultural heritages as Indonesia's cultural heritage. This was stated by Director General of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Culture Hilman Farid at a press conference of The 3rd Basoeki Abdullah Award Competition in Jakarta, on Monday (Feb18).

“Our job at the ministry is focus on what we called cultural heritage and we work through UNESCO among other things to nominate Indonesian cultural heritage of having universal value and get recognition from UNESCO. So what we promote so far is based mostly on tradition. Tradition itself doesn't mean that you should limit what you present to the world as the traditional expression, you can have contemporary forms and that's we are doing with Pak Basoeki as well," Hilman Farid said.

Basoeki Abdullah is one of Indonesia's most famous painters who expressed his works through Indonesian mythological puppet paintings. Hilman added that the award carried out by the Ministry of Education and Culture aims to invite young Indonesian artists to express national identity through art, especially painting. The program with the theme of mythology is organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture every three years. (VOI / NUKE / AHM)

Indonesia officially nominated itself as the 2032 Olympic Games host, with a letter signed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) presented to Thomas Bach, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President in the IOC Secretariat in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The letter was handed over by Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland Muliaman D. Hadad on February 11, 2019, the Indonesian Embassy in Bern noted in a statement on Tuesday.

Jokowi had expressed verbally and in writing the intent to host the Olympic Games in 2032 when Bach visited Indonesia in 2018.

He received a positive response following Indonesia's success in organizing the 2018 Asian Games and Para Games.

At a meeting with Ambassador Hadad, Christophe Dubi, the IOC executive director, gave a positive response to the Indonesian application and promised to keep Indonesia informed regarding the Olympic host selection process.

"The IOC has recognized Indonesia's capability while organizing the 2018 Asian Games and Para Games that were successful. I think this is quite a strong foundation," Hadad noted.

Indonesia's application to host the 2032 Olympic Games could be a good opportunity to showcase the economic capability of the country, which is the world`s fourth most populous nation and a member of the G20, he pointed out.

The selection process of the 2032 Olympic Host will begin in 2024 at the latest.

Tokyo, Paris, and Los Angeles are respectively the Olympic Games hosts for 2020, 2024, and 2028. (ANTARA)