PRESIDENT JOKOWI SETS SIGHTS ON PEACE-BUILDING IN UKRAINE, RUSSIA by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 28/6/2022 (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is scheduled to embark on a peace-building mission to Ukraine and Russia on June 29 and 30, 2022, after attending the G7 Summit for Partner Countries in Germany.

The G7 Summit, held on June 26-27, discussed the global food supply chain disruption and the Russia-Ukraine war, among other things.

The President and his entourage left Germany for Poland on June 28, from where he will enter Ukraine, Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi informed.

He is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on June 29 and call on Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on June 30.

Prior to his departure to Germany, Jokowi told Indonesian media that his mission in Ukraine and Russia will be to conduct dialogue on efforts to end the war and achieve peaceful solutions.

"War has to be stopped and global food supply chains need to be reactivated," he said.

At the G7 Summit, he cited data from the World Food Program (WFP) showing that at least 323 million people in a number of countries are at risk of a food crisis. The G7 and G20 have a big responsibility to overcome this crisis, he added.

He emphasized the importance of G7 countries support for the reintegration of Ukraines wheat exports and Russias food and fertilizer exports into global supply chains.

 

NAVIGATING THE FOOD CRISIS, WAR by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 27/6/2022 (ANTARA) - Even as the world is trying to recover from the economic downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, a war has broken out in Ukraine and worsened the economic situation and food supply chain disruption in several parts of the globe.

Food security is on the agenda of the G7 Summit for Partner Countries at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps, Germany, which President Joko Widodo attended on June 2627, 2022.

Germany has invited Indonesia, Argentina, India, Senegal, and South Africa to the summit as partner countries.

The G7 is an informal forum of leading industrialized nations, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The grouping was previously called G8 after Russia was accepted as its member in 1998, but it was kicked out in 2014 following a conflict with Ukraine.

Having taken over the G7 presidency from the UK in January 2022, Germany has set progress towards an equitable world as its goal and is focusing discussions on a sustainable planet, economic stability and transformation, healthy lives, and sustainable investments.

Germany wants to use its presidency to foster a sustainable planet, healthy living, investment in a better future, and building a world that is stronger together.

However, Europe is currently witnessing a war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022, and has been affected by the impacts of the war, which have included food chain disruption.

The sanctions imposed by the West on Russia have also triggered an energy crisis, with oil and gas supply dwindling in several European countries.

 

INDONESIA ACCELERATES BATTLE AGAINST FMD OUTBREAK IN 19 PROVINCES by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 25/6/2022 (ANTARA) - Indonesia is battling the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, mostly affecting cows in regions since May 2022, while concurrently, it is on alert for likely surge in COVID-19 cases triggered by emergence of new Omicron sub-variants.

FMD cases have been detected in 19 provinces, especially in East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Aceh, West Java, and Central Java. Three provinces, with the highest number of districts and cities with FMD cases, are East Java, Central Java, and West Java.

As of June 23, at least 232,549 animals had contracted FMD. At least 152,618 of them have not yet recovered, while 1,333 have died. The most infected cattle are cows, with their number reaching 227,070 heads.

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. FMD can spread through close contact between animals and be carried on animal products or by the wind. Quarantine and vaccination are among strategies to help control the FMD virus spread.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that the government will provide Rp10 million as compensation to cattle breeders for every cow slaughtered due to the disease.

The government has approved the procurement of 29 million additional doses of the FMD vaccine for livestock using the budget of the Committee for COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPC-PEN), he added.

NEED TO TREAD WITH CAUTION IN REVIVING HALAL TOURISM INDUSTRY by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 23/6/2022 (ANTARA) -With the COVID-19 situation getting relatively under control in many countries, a number of people have become eager to travel to escape from the boredom and stress caused by the pandemic over the past two years.

According to data provided by Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the number of international tourist arrivals in Indonesia in April 2022 reached 111,100, the highest on record since the pandemic hit the nation.

This figure is the highest since the start of the pandemic. This indicates that the tourism sector has started to recover, BPS head Margo Yuwono said recently.

The number of international tourists arriving in Indonesia in April 2022 increased drastically by 499.01 percent compared to April 2021.

Compared to the previous month, the number of international tourists arriving through the main entrance increased by 172.27 percent in April 2022.

Indonesia hosted the 2022 International Halal Congress in Bangka Belitung province, which is one of Indonesias halal tourism destinations, on June 14 and 15, 2022.

The congress, which was attended by participants and speakers from 40 countries, offered an opportunity for halal industry players to formulate policies related to halal tourism and products.

It yielded a nine-point resolution, among other things, calling for an acceleration of halal tourism and halal industry development as a significant pillar of national and global economic growth.

 

STUNTING ERADICATION CRUCIAL TO ACHIEVE GOLDEN GENERATION by Fardah

Jakarta, 20/6/2022 (ANTARA) - Indonesia is striving to achieve a golden generation in 2045, or on the 100th anniversary of its independence, but faces the problem of stunting as a hurdle to be first overcome to achieve the goal.

Vice President Maruf Amin, during a launch of the book, titled "Moving Forward: Local Initiatives in Reducing Stunting in Indonesia," recently described a golden generation as a generation that is able to bring progress to Indonesia.

Stunting, which is characterized by growth failure in children under the age of two due to long periods of malnutrition, will create a demographic burden generation, as it has the potential to endanger the future of the nation, in terms of education, health, productivity, and the economy.

To ensure realizing the national goal of achieving a golden generation, the government, in 2018, had decided to accelerate the efforts to reduce the stunting rate, particularly among children under the age of five years.

To this end, the government has formulated the National Strategy for Accelerating Stunting Reduction (Stranas Stunting), which emphasizes the strengthening of investment in the first one thousand days of human life.

Amin, who has been tasked with leading the national stunting eradication efforts, claimed that the strategy has helped to reduce the stunting rate, from 30.8 percent in 2018 to 24.4 percent in 2021.

This achievement is based on hard work, smart work, and collaborative work from all parties, both at the central and regional government levels," he affirmed.

INDONESIA BRACES FOR INFECTION SPIKE AS OMICRON SUBVARIANTS EMERGE by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 17/6/2022 (ANTARA) - Two Omicron subvariants, which surfaced in early June this year, have threatened the sense of normalcy that had returned to Indonesia in the last couple of months, when restrictions were relaxed as COVID-19 cases remained under control.

The country recorded 168 daily cases on May 2, 2022, and 218 cases on May 30, fueling hopes of a shift to endemicity. However, the number of daily cases shot up to 1,242 on June 15.

President Joko Widodo has urged officials to improve the accessibility of the COVID-19 booster vaccine to prevent a spike triggered by the new subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5.

So far, the government has administered the first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to a total of 168,183,942 people, or 80.75 percent of the national target of 208,265,720 people.

On June 10, the Health Ministry informed that the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has been triggered by the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which entered the country in early June 2022.

The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants can evade immunity formed through vaccination and spread rapidly. The current increase has nothing to do with the easing of restrictions during the holidays and has been caused by the spread of new variants.

As of June 15, at least 20 cases of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants have been detected in Indonesia.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin assured that the situation in Indonesia is still under control based on the two World Health Organization (WHO) indicators.