VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo attended the opening ceremony of the 32nd ASEAN Summit in Island Ballroom, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, Saturday, April 28, 2018.

"There are several meetings, firstly the opening of the summit itself, the official opening, then ASEAN Leader's Retreat will discuss more about regional issues, international issues," Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told journalists on Friday night, April 27, 2018 , at the Shangri-la Hotel, Singapore.

In addition, the President will also hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The meeting is scheduled to be held after lunch, at the 3rd Bilateral Meeting Room, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore.

President Joko Widodo  on Saturday asked Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to immediately wrap up negotiations on the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) between the two neighboring countries. President Joko Widdodo raised the border issue at a bilateral meeting with the Vietnamese Prime Minister on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit conference being held in this city country. Joko Widodo said a number of the results of the Joint-Council-Bilateral-Cooperation (JCBC) meeting need immediate follow up talks include issue of maritime borders between Indonesia and Vietnam.  Conclusion of the border talks would prevent unnecessary incident and would help promote fishery and maritime cooperation.

Indonesian authorities have detained and exploded a number of foreign fishing boats including Vietnamese fishing vessels caught illegally fishing in Indonesian waters.

"I am confident we could immediately wrap up the negotiation," Jokowi told the Vietnamese leader.

The Indonesian President also said that the drafting of 2019-2023 Action Plan on strategic partnership between the two countries should be finished in November 2018. He expressed appreciation for the agreement to remove bottlenecks that exports of motor vehicles from Indonesia to Vietnam could be normal again soon, and the bilateral trade target of US$10 billion set for 2020 could come to a reality. He said he appreciates support by Vietnam for the initiative on Indo-Pacific cooperation concept proposed by Indonesia at the ASEAN summit meeting.

He took the occasion to convey invitation to the Vietnamese Prime Minister to attend the ASEAN Leaders Gathering to be held in Bali on 11 October 2018. He said he would seriously consider an invitation by Prime Minister Nguyen to attend the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in September 11-13 this year.

"I will seriously consider the invitation," he said.

Accompanying the president at the meeting included Coordinating Minister for Security, law and Political Affairs Wiranto, Coordinating Minister for Economy Darmin Nasution, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita, Chief the Presidential Staff Moeldoko, and Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore I Gede Ngurah Swajaya. ( antara ) 

The neighboring conditions between North and South Korea are particularly vulnerable. Since the signing of a ceasefire agreement by the United States, China and North Korea in 1953, the Korean War has not really ended. The South Korean side has not been part of the deal yet. The relationship between the two Koreas did not improve even after  the end of the cold war between the Western and the Eastern Blocs. War seemed to be looming back at any time. This will certainly affect many people and  the damage and number of victims will  not small.

Peaceful efforts have also continued to be fostered by both North Korea and South Korea and other supporting countries. But generally they met a dead end because of each side’s reluctance to budge. However, optimism must be kept alive, that Peace will sooner or later be realized there.

Great hopes are pinned at North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un's meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-In today, Friday 27 April. This is the first step towards  the Summit of the United States, South Korea and North Korea which is planned to be held a month later. Hopefully this meeting is no longer just a marker of a peaceful effort as in the past. Rather as the beginning of an actual peace agreement.

The positive signs have been shown by  both North  and South Koreas. Among others can be seen from the attitude of North Korea which has  confirmed to   freez  its nuclear program. On the other hand, South Korea has also stopped broadcasting propaganda at the border. Two things appreciated by many parties.

Indeed, there are also countries that question the seriousness of North Korea. Given the proposed denuclearization of the Korean peninsula subtly means that the  United States forces must also leave the area.

Regardless of the growing views, both sides must really listen to the voice of the people who generally want peace. In fact, not a few who even want the unification of the two countries.

Meanwhile, the international community expects the immediate realization of peace. It should be remembered that the parties to the Korean peninsula conflict possess weapons of mass destruction. If each one does not hold back, the war will erupt and the victim is not just the Korean Peninsula.

Indonesia needs to expand the market for its crude palm oil (CPO) at home and abroad and resolve the problems being faced by palm oil industry in the production of the commodity. While facing a threat due to the European Union`s plan to phase out its palm oil-based biofuel, Indonesia has to seek new markets, while maintaining its conventional markets overseas, such as India, China, and Pakistan, which are the largest markets for Indonesian CPO.

Thus, the Indonesian and Australian governments have held negotiations on CPO trade. "We are currently carrying out the process with Australia, and we have agreed to come out with the final agreement this August," Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita stated in Jakarta on Monday (April 9).

The Minister of Trade continued to communicate intensively with the Australian parliament regarding the drafting of policies on the use of oil palm and its derivative products in Australia.

"There are still some things that are under negotiations..Along with member of the Australian parliament, Steven Ciobo, we have agreed that the next round of negotiation processes between the set teams will take place soon. They will leave out some items, and later, the two ministers will take the final steps," he explained.

The Indonesian government also needs to consider selling CPO to Mexico in an effort to boost cooperation between the two countries. "We should consider selling CPO, because we have a lot of CPO production," Chairman of the Indonesia-Mexico Bilateral Cooperation Group (GKSB) of the House of Representatives (DPR), Djoko Udjianto, stated in a release in Jakarta on Tuesday (April 10). Udjianto noted that although Mexico is supported by sunflower oil and soybean commodities from the US, CPO can still become one of its alternative imports.

Apart from that, the Indonesian government has also looked at Ghana. The governments of the two countries have agreed to cooperate to fight the negative campaign against the palm oil commodity.

"I have met the vice minister of agriculture and food of Ghana. We discussed about several negative campaigns against palm oil. Palm oil-producing countries should unite against these negative campaigns," Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi had noted in Bali last week (April 11).

While intensifying the efforts to expand its market abroad, Indonesia, as the world?s largest CPO producer should, therefore, continue to improve production at home. It is admittedly true that Indonesia`s CPO industry still faces three main problems.

According to the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers` Association (Gapki), Indonesia?s CPO industry still faces high production cost, low productivity, and counterproductive policies.

"If these issues are not solved soon, the impact will reduce the competitiveness of Indonesia`s palm oil," Gapki Chairman, Joko Supriyono, noted during the inauguration of the executive and supervisory board members of the Gapki for the 2018-2023 period in Jakarta on Saturday (April 21).

To this end, Supriyono, Chairman of Gapki for the 2013-2018 period, stated that the association must partner with the government, especially for formulating policies or regulations that will not harm the domestic oil industry.

"This issue was also raised by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who has carried out extensive deregulation, but investment is still slow," he pointed out.

Jokowi suggested that the industry needs a regulation that creates a conducive climate to tackle issues related to government policies of both the central government and the local government. According to Jokowi, the policy or regulation is not only from within the country but also from the government of Indonesia`s palm oil export destination, such as India, which applies increased import tariff, or the United States, which always imposes tariff and non-tariff barriers on imported products.

Regarding productivity problem, Supriyono remarked that Indonesia`s productivity of palm oil plantations is still below other producing countries, such as Malaysia, Colombia, and Thailand, although Indonesia is the world`s largest producer of the commodity. Meanwhile, the production cost of palm oil plantations in Indonesia is also high, surpassing those of other producer countries.

"In fact, the best palm oil companies in Indonesia are still inferior to the worst firms in Malaysia in terms of production costs," he pointed out.

The Gapki chairman admitted that security and social costs remain contributors of high production costs in Indonesia and are difficult to be avoided by the company. He noted that the current global demand for vegetable oils, including palm oil, continues to grow on an average of five million tons per year.

According to Gapki, the performance of the national palm oil industry is virtually very good throughout 2017. This is evident from the significant increase in production. "In 2017, the performance of palm oil industry was very good and production increased significantly," Secretary General of Gapki, Togar Sitanggang, revealed in a press conference at Gapki Head Office on Tuesday (Jan 30).

Sitanggang explained that the production of CPO in Indonesia reached 38.17 million tons, while palm kernel oil (PKO) production or palm kernel oil reaches 3.05 million tons. Thus, the total production of Indonesian palm oil throughout 2017 reached 41.98 million tons. According Sitanggang, the number increased by 18 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

In 2016, Indonesia`s palm oil production reached 35.57 million tons. "The stock remained the same from the beginning of the year and slightly increased at the end of the year," Sitanggang was quoted by Kompas.com as saying.

Previous data have indicated that Indonesia is estimated to have 11.6 million hectares of palm oil plantation. Of the total, some eight percent are managed by state companies, 49 percent by private CPO industries, and 43 percent belong to small farmers. The livelihood of about 16-20 million people depends on upstream and downstream palm oil businesses across Indonesia. In 2016, Indonesia produced over 35.57 million tons of crude palm oil, and 25 million tons were exported worldwide, mainly to India, China, Pakistan, and the Netherlands, bringing in US$17.8 billion in revenue, or about an eighth of the country`s total export proceeds. ( antara )