VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi engaged in bilateral talks to discuss economic and maritime issues on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Osaka, Japan, Saturday.

"I believe the ASEAN and India can deepen Indo-Pacific cooperation," Jokowi remarked during the meeting held at INTEX in Osaka.

The Indonesian leader lauded India for supporting the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific adopted by ASEAN leaders during their 34th summit held in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 22, 2019. Indo-Pacific is a concept of cooperation among several nations located in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. The cooperation focuses on the principles of transparency and respect for the international law.

Jokowi encouraged both nations to make all-out efforts to achieve the bilateral trade target of US$50 billion in 2025. He highlighted the need for both nations to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to realize the target.

He specifically called on Modi to pay attention to the new import tariffs applied on the export of palm oil from Indonesia since early January 2019.

"We need to encourage our trade ministers to go ahead with the discussion to achieve a win-win solution, including a proposal for trade-off between palm oil and other commodities," the president noted in a press statement of the Presidential Secretariat's deputy for protocol, press, and media, Bey Machmudin.

In the maritime field, the president highlighted the significance of increasing business interactions within the framework of maritime cooperation between both nations. Interactions could be initiated between businessmen of Aceh in Indonesia and those of Andaman-Nicobar in India.

Hence, he called on India to partake in the development of infrastructure connectivity in Sabang, Indonesia.

In the meantime, Modi warmly welcomed trade and investment cooperation between Andaman-Nicobar and Aceh. The cooperation is viewed as being practical in nature and will benefit both nations.

During the meeting, Jokowi was accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Minister/State Secretary Pratikno, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita, Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto, Presidential Special Staff Adita Irawan, and Indonesian Ambassador to Japan Arifin Tasrif. (ant) 

President Joko Widodo raised the issue regarding access to education and women's empowerment while speaking at the Third Session of the Osaka G20 Summit with the theme Addressing Inequalities & Realizing an Inclusive and Sustainable World, Saturday, June 29, 2019.

"We all understand that access to education and empowerment of women are important elements to achieve the target of Sustainable Development Goals. And that requires all of us to work together, "said the President in front of the leaders of the G20 member countries.

Regarding education, the President stressed the need to adjust the current education system, which according to him still follows the old education pattern. In fact, in the digital era like now, President Jokowi is aware of changes related to mental patterns and patterns of children's interaction in the 21st century.

"Our children are now living in the era of YouTube Video, which has an average length of only 12 minutes, in the era of Instagram Video or Twitter Video which averages 6 minutes in length or even as short as 1 minute. In the past, children got along with for example riding a bicycle together, now our children get along with busy playing video games "Massive Multi-Player Online Games" such as Fortnite and Minecraft, "said the President.

Then related to women's participation, President Jokowi said that the role of women in the economy, politics and community life is still far from the potential that exists. Even though according to the President, in an era of various trends triggered by digitalization and globalization, women can be superior to men.

"Women are more diligent, more diligent, more detailed, more patient, and more team-work than us. Because e-Commerce and technology require such characters, so increasing women's participation in business, economy and politics will automatically increase economic growth and national competitiveness in the digital era, "said the President.

Therefore, President Jokowi said, in the future his government will focus on the development of human resources. Indonesia, according to the President, has 68.6 percent or around 181.3 million people in productive age.

"In order for the productive age population to become a demographic bonus, qualified and competitive human resources are needed," said the President.

Besides that at the regional level, the President also said that ASEAN leaders had just adopted the "ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific" which contains the attitudes, perspectives and readiness of ASEAN to cooperate with any party, which is ASEAN's contribution to efforts to maintain stability and peace and creating inclusive and sustainable development.

"Cooperation is clearly needed, first to solve the problem of funding sources not only from the government, but from the private sector, through financial innovations such as blended finance. Second, cooperation in certification of expertise or competency standards. "The more certification can be accepted regionally, the more internationally the greater the benefits of vocational training and practical skills for our workers," said President Jokowi ending his remarks. (Source: Presidential Secretariat)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Indonesia in early 2020. The two leaders requested that preparations for the visit begin so that the visit resulted in concrete cooperation that benefited both parties.

The planned visit is one of the issues discussed at President Joko Widodo's Bilateral Meeting with President Erdogan on the sidelines of the Osaka G20 Summit on Saturday, June 29, 2019.

Next year, Indonesia-Turkey will celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations.

During the meeting, President Erdogan once again expressed his congratulations on the re-election of President Jokowi as President of Indonesia for the next five years. President Erdogan was one of the Heads of State who first called President Widodo to congratulate him after the quick count results were announced.

"Thank you President Erdogan for his congratulations. All the election processes are now finished," said President Jokowi.

The two Presidents also agreed that trade between the two countries could be multiplied. The President of Turkey offers several strategic industrial cooperation.

Turkey has also expressed support for Indonesia's candidacy on the UN Human Rights Council 2020-2022. (Source: Setkab)

In the next five years, development priorities in Indonesia will be focused on the issue of human resource development, including in the field of vocational education and higher education. Therefore it is hoped that there will be an increase in cooperation between the two countries in the field.

This statement was conveyed by President Jokowi during a bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the sidelines of the G20 Summit at INTEX, Osaka, Japan, on Saturday 29 June 2019.

In addition to discussing cooperation in the field of education, President Jokowi also discussed cooperation in the economic field, particularly regarding the Pacific Exposition in Auckland.

"I really appreciate Australia's support for the implementation of the Pacific Exposition in Auckland in July 2019," said President Jokowi.

The implementation of this exposition, said President Jokowi, will improve economic relations between Pacific countries.

At the beginning of the meeting, PM Morrison congratulated President Jokowi who was re-elected in the 2019 presidential election.

"Thank you for your congratulations after the vote count was completed in Indonesia," said President Jokowi.

In the meeting also, President Jokowi explained about the Indo-Pacific ASEAN Outlook that had just been agreed upon by ASEAN leaders at the ASEAN 34th Summit in Thailand last year was the concept of cooperation between the countries along the Indian and Pacific Oceans in terms of increasing cooperation the principle of openness and respect for international law.

In addition to carrying out a perspective, the President said, the principles of Outlook also included the field of cooperation that ASEAN wanted to do with its partners

 "I appreciate Australia's positive response to the ASEAN Outlook. I also hope that Australia can cooperate with ASEAN in various fields in Outlook," said President Jokowi. (Source: Setkab)