VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), Arief Prasetyo Adi (second from the right), during a meeting with the Indonesian Ambassador to India, Ina Hagniningtyas Krisnamurthi (second from the left), in New Delhi, India, on Monday (December 18, 2023). (ANTARA/HO-Bapanas/rst) - 

The National Food Agency (Bapanas) is exploring cooperation with India to strengthen food availability and thereby, stabilize food prices in Indonesia. Bapanas head Arief Prasetyo Adi visited New Delhi, India, to discuss the cooperation with the Indonesian Ambassador to India, Ina Hagniningtyas Krisnamurthi.

"The Indonesian government aims to ensure food availability and stabilize food prices for domestic interests and trade balance. This goal requires support from many parties and stakeholders, including the support of friendly countries," Adi said in a statement received on Tuesday.

His visit to India was prompted by the Indian government's restrictions on trade. Indonesia needs rice supplies from India to strengthen domestic rice stocks.

Earlier, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) directed the agency to ensure the availability of Government Rice Reserve (CBP) stock of 3 million tons. As of December 5, 2023, CBP stocks controlled by state-run logistic company Bulog stood at just 1.5 million tons.

"This visit is part of Indonesia's efforts to ensure that food availability in Indonesia comes from the best sources at competitive prices. This visit also aims to optimize cooperation with various parties in providing domestic food," Adi said.

Besides reviewing cooperation related to rice supply, he also persuaded India to fulfill the availability of 150 thousand tons of buffalo meat for domestic needs.

During the meeting, Ambassador Krisnamurthi conveyed the need to increase investment in Indonesia to encourage advanced development.

Besides meeting with the ambassador, Adi was scheduled to visit Lulu Mall and the meat processing industry in Lucknow. He will also go to Aurangabad and Mumbai to complete several agendas related to food in India. 

To maintain food prices in Indonesia, the government is distributing CBP to the community to keep the prices from soaring due to crop harvest failure caused by El Nino//ANT-VOI

Illustration : Green Economy - 

Voinews, Jakarta - The implementation of the green economy is not an obstacle, but a new opportunity for future economic growth, said deputy for economy at the Ministry of National Development Planning, Amalia Adiningrat Widyasanti, on Tuesday.

"When we implement the green economy massively and thoroughly, it will definitely create a new opportunity for Indonesia's economic activities, contributing to economic growth acceleration," she said.

Widyasanti made the statement at the launch of the "Policy Brief of Greenpeace Indonesia and CELIOS: The Fate of the Green Economy Transition in the Political Year".

She explained that in the national long-term plan for 2025–2045, the transition to a green economy involves several main focuses.

The first focus is transitioning toward clean and renewable energy, with the renewable energy mix targeted to reach around 60 percent by 2045.

Second, implementing environmentally friendly transportation, or green transportation. Third, applying a circular economy to industries and people's daily lives.

"The implementation of the green economy is a main focus of the Golden Indonesia (vision), starting from 2025 to 2045, as an integral part of Indonesia's economic transformation efforts," she said.

Regarding the challenges, she emphasized the need to make the necessary preparations, including increasing human resources, adopting clean technology, and expanding the supporting ecosystem through policies and regulations that support the green economy in various sectors.

"Implementing a green economy requires major changes that must be supported by a good ecosystem and joint efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth for the next 20 years," she said.

Several policies, such as increasing energy efficiency, a just energy transition, developing smart grids, and implementing a circular economy, are considered the basis for those changes.

Widyasanti also emphasized the importance of providing fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for environmentally friendly products.

She added that the green economy push is not only limited to the energy transition, but also extends to strengthening other pillars to achieve sustainable economic growth in the next two decades.

Therefore, Indonesia is strengthening its commitment to embrace the green economy as a foundation for economic growth in the future, she added//ANT-VOI

An aerial view shows flooding caused by heavy rains and water gushing through the Barron River, in Cairns, Queensland, Australia on Dec 18, 2023, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. (Screengrab: Brent Paterson via Reuters) - 

SYDNEY: Residents in Australia's northeast on Tuesday (Dec 19) took stock of flood damages from former Tropical Cyclone Jasper and authorities accelerated efforts to rescue people stranded in remote towns as rivers stayed above dangerous levels.

Jasper made landfall last week as a category 2 storm, three rungs below the most dangerous wind speed level, in the far north of Queensland state, home to several resorts along the world-famous Great Barrier Reef.

It was soon downgraded to a tropical low but the system moved slowly, dumping months worth of rain over four days, cutting off entire towns, and inundating homes, roads and farms.

Conditions have since eased with military personnel joining the state's emergency crews on evacuations and relief efforts. Search continued for an 85-year-old man missing in flood waters.

Flights from Cairns Airport, the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, will resume on Tuesday, officials said.

"Today, we will really see the beginning of the recovery effort across much of Far North Queensland. So, there'll be a big focus on recovery work," Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"We're going to see a very large amount of property damage ... So, I think we're up for a pretty expensive repair bill," Watt said.

The Insurance Council of Australia said the flooding could be escalated to an insurance catastrophe if there was a spike in claims, though it was too early to determine the full impact.

Television footage showed residents walking through homes strewn with debris and sludge after water levels receded in some towns during a pause in rains.

Authorities said most of the 300 residents from the flooded remote Indigenous town of Wujal Wujal will be evacuated soon. Some residents there had to wade through crocodile-infested waters to get to higher ground, according to media reports.

A 2.8m-long crocodile was captured on Monday in a storm drain in Ingham, a town of about 5,000. Crocodile sightings in north Queensland are more common in rivers, lagoons and swamps in rural areas//CNA-VOI

A South Korean building complex is seen in the background as North Korean soldiers guard the truce village at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which separates the two Koreas in Panmunjom, North Korea on Jun 20, 2018. (Photo: AP/Dita Alangkara) - 

SEOUL: International troops stationed on the South Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom on the border with North Korea who had been unarmed can resume carrying guns, the United Nations Command (UNC) said on Tuesday (Dec 19).

The US-led UNC is a multinational military force and oversees affairs in the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.

Panmunjom, which has been a popular tourist destination, is known formally as the Joint Security Area (JSA) - a cluster of buildings that has hosted inter-Korean talks and where troops from both sides stand almost face to face.

The decision this month to allow UNC troops to carry guns came after North Korean soldiers of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) had resumed "an armed security posture" in the area, said Colonel Isaac Taylor, the spokesperson for the UNC.

Taylor said the move was aimed at protecting both civilian and military personnel in the border area.

"This action is being taken out of an abundance of caution, but UNC has also informed the ROK (South Korea) government and KPA of its position that a disarmed JSA is safer and more peaceful for the Korean Peninsula," Taylor said.

The two Koreas had agreed not to arm their troops on the JSA under a 2018 inter-Korean military pact, but North Korean troops have been reported to be carrying guns since November after a partial unravelling of the agreement.

Last month, South Korea suspended part of the pact aimed at de-escalating border tensions in a protest over Pyongyang's launch of a spy satellite.

North Korea responded by scrapping the accord and pledging to deploy stronger armed forces and new weapons on the border.

Taking a tour to the DMZ has been a popular activity for tourists looking to get a glimpse of the reclusive authoritarian state, but the trips to the JSA were suspended after a US soldier dashed across the border in July.

South Korea said some JSA tours restarted last month, though media reports said they had been suspended again due to increased tensions with the North//CNA-VOI