VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, on March 3, 2024. (ANTARA/Presidential Secretariat) - 

VOInews, Australia - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi stated that the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit resulted in two documents, namely the Melbourne Declaration and the ASEAN-Australia Leaders Vision Statement.

"The Melbourne Declaration contains the direction of cooperation in the political-security, economic, and socio-cultural sectors going forward," Marsudi noted in a transcript of her press statement regarding the summit, as received here on Wednesday.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) attended the summit that took place in Melbourne on March 4-6.

Meanwhile, the ASEAN-Australia Leaders Vision Statement is aimed at facing geopolitical, geostrategic, and geoeconomic challenges. The event was held to commemorate 50 years of ASEAN's partnership with Australia, and the theme of the summit was "A Partnership for the Future."

The summit was divided into two sessions, with the first session being the "Future ASEAN-Australia Cooperation" discussion, while the second one was "The Three ASEAN Cooperation Pillars".

Marsudi explained that last year, Australia had released its economic strategy document for Southeast Asia. The document was created by Australia's Special Envoy for Southeast Asia Nicholas Moore.

"The point of Moore's report is Australia's new approach to increase trade and investment with Southeast Asia," she stated.

Australia views Southeast Asia as a highly potential region, with high economic growth, geographical proximity, and economic complementarity, she explained.

"It is part of Australia's efforts to diversify the economy," she added.

Four major objectives in the report are raising awareness, removing blockages, building capacities, and deepening investment.

The 10 priority sectors for the Australia and Southeast Asia cooperation are agriculture and food, natural resources, clean energy transition, infrastructure, education and skills, tourism, health, digital economy, professional and financial services, and creative industries.

"Australia also launched the ASEAN-Australia Center, which is a form of support for the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP)," Marsudi stated//(ANTARA-VOI)

Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Indonesia, Faishal Abdullah el-Amudi accompanied by Chairman of Baznas, Noor Ahmad releasing humanitarian aid to West Java (Photo : Daniel-VOI) - 

VOInews, Jakarta - Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Indonesia, Faishal Abdullah el-Amudi, released food package assistance for Indonesia on Tuesday (5/3). The program was initiated by the King Salman Center for Social and Humanitarian Assistance - KSrelief in collaboration with the National Zakat Agency - Baznas.

The assistance consisted of 7,965 packages of food necessities worth Rp1 million for each package and was distributed in Jakarta, Banten, West Java, and Central Java.

"The assistance distributed by KSrelief for this humanitarian action is part of the direction of King Salman's government, Servant of the Two Holy Mosques, especially to help people in need ahead of the blessed month of Ramadan", Ambassador el-Amudi said. 

On the same occasion, Chairman of Baznas, Noor Ahmad stated that the program was the third aid done in collaboration with Baznas and the KSrelief. Apart from food aid packages, KSrelief also donated 200 kg of dates and 400 copies of the Islamic holy book Al-Quran with Braille alphabet//(VOI/Daniel)

Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese receive Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the ASEAN-AUSTRALIA Summit 2024 in Melbourne, Australia (Photo : Setpres) -

VOInews, Australia - Indonesian President, Joko Widodo met Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center (MCEC) in Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday (5/3). At the meeting, he emphasized the commitment of Indonesia and Australia to strengthen strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

President Joko Widodo also invited Prime Minister Albanese to strengthen cooperation to improve diplomatic relations, which have lasted for 75 years.

“Prime Minister Albanese, I am pleased to be able to visit Australia again. Australia is a strategic partner of Indonesia and ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific region, a region where we share the future and joint responsibility for maintaining stability. And in our 75th year of diplomatic relations/let us strengthen cooperation and collaboration.”

President Joko Widodo conveyed four main points to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Australia, including the importance of cooperation in the financial services sector and announcing plans to open a State Bank of Indonesia - BNI representative office in Sydney.

President Joko Widodo also highlighted the importance of expanding market access to create a more balanced trade//VOI

Papua Province Community and Human Resources Expert Staff Elsye Rumbekwan giving welcoming speech at the disscussion (Photo : Perpusnas) - 

Voinews, Jayapura, Papua - Indonesia has an important national agenda that is being prepared, namely the golden generation. To be able to make this happen throughout Indonesia, including Papua, good collaboration is needed from all levels of society to instill reading and writing activities into habits and culture.

Papua Province Community and Human Resources Expert Staff Elsye Rumbekwan said reading activities can increase knowledge, train focus and concentration, as well as improve brain performance and reduce stress.

"That's the importance of reading, not just entertainment, but also a cognitive exercise that is full of benefits. When our eyes weave letters into words and sentences, our brains respond by focusing our attention. "This is the moment where focus and concentration work synergistically," he said when giving a speech representing Acting.

Governor of Papua in the Indonesian Reading Ambassador (DBI) Talks in Papua Province with the theme Indonesian Reading Movement: Reading is Healthy, Writing is Great, which was held in a hybrid manner, on Thursday (29/2/2024).

In the event held by the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia (Perpusnas), DBI Gol A Gong explained that he got his reading habit thanks to his parents. From this habit, he got his own blessings. He said that since the 4th grade of elementary school, he had to let his hand be amputated and accept judgment from people that his life would be bleak.

"My father and mother taught me three daily routine activities, namely running, reading and listening to fairy tales. As a reward for my perseverance, my reading habit, which was previously just a hobby, brought me to a pleasant profession, namely journalism. I also wrote 125 books. So, books make me empowered," he said.

Meanwhile, Papua Province Reading Ambassador Michael J. Yarisetouw confirmed that families play an important role in forming children's reading habits.

“When I was chosen as a Reading Ambassador, I created a family Reading Time movement. Because when I was little, I didn't have a book but my mother wrote down the Lord's Prayer big for me to study. From there, before I entered elementary school, I already knew how to read. "My father was the same, he required me to read one chapter of the Bible every morning, which I then had to explain after praying together," he recalled.

Furthermore, he added that literacy is not just about reading and writing, but about a person's ability to access and understand the information they hear and read. Then, the results are written down and can be useful for the wider community, as well as beneficial for their own survival.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Friday (01/03/24), the writer, Jose Alvan Ohei agrees with the DBI slogan, namely Reading is Healthy, Writing is Great. According to him, in the future there will not be many new writers in Papua. This is because the activity of writing is a calling and because the habit of reading has not yet been developed, the basic problems still need to be addressed.

"Because they are not used to reading, it will be difficult for Papuan children to move to the next step to express what is on their minds in written form. However, that doesn't mean it's impossible, but rather that it will take a long time to produce many writers, especially if it is not supported by the government. "Writing is downstream from reading," he explained.

Papua Province Literacy Activist Hanny Felle explained that women play a role in determining the future generation of Papua. According to him, women are the spearhead of driving literacy.

"I became a literacy activist starting with three books, until now I have been able to open around 25 libraries in Jayapura Regency. "We must realize that the work we do is not paid, but we work from what we have and serve with our heart," concluded the winner of the 2023 Nugra Jasa Darma Pustaloka Community Category award from the National Library//VOI