Day: January 25, 2022

The 2022 Values 20 (V20) will develop policy recommendations according to the priorities set by Indonesia’s G20 Presidency, Co-Sherpa of 2022 V20, Makarim Wibisono, said in a statement issued here on Tuesday.

V20 is a global community of experts and practitioners who are interested in the values practiced by the society and who provide inputs to the Group of Twenty (G20) for strengthening multilateral policymaking, he added.

“V20 uses a sustainability compass model approach to balance the perspective on nature, economy, well-being, and society aspects,” the 2022 V20 Co-Sherpa said.

The global expert community will also propose a set of values for the G20 community based on the strategic priorities of the 2022 G20, as well as the G20 declarations during the past five years, he informed.

Themed ‘Values at the Center,’ the V20 2022 Summit in October 2022 will feature cultural events that will disseminate the key messages of the event and invite direct feedback through public engagement.

“We will attempt to deepen the understanding of values in public policy with data-based and human-centered policy solutions to overcome global challenges in line with the theme of Indonesia’s 2022 G20 Presidency of ‘Recover Together, Recover Stronger,’” V20 founding group member Ghazi Binzagr remarked.

Meanwhile, another V20 founding group member, Mandeep Rai, said that the global community intends to show the important role of values for achieving the G20 policy goals and realizing the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“We believe that we can substantially increase the coherence, effectiveness, and longevity of a policy by increasing awareness of the systemic role of value as well as the reason and how value emerges from processes, institutions, and structures,” she explained.

Meanwhile, V20 2022 Co-Sherpa Alissa Wahid emphasized the importance of public awareness of the significance of practiced values and culture.

“Understanding the values can become an important reflection medium for us as one nation. Moreover, there are values in the high level of entropy in our society, which hinder our social progress. Hence, we need to implement social engineering to optimally utilize the demographic bonus opportunity in 2045,” she stated.

Source: Antara News

State-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina has successfully demonstrated its capability for operating the Rokan Block, Riau, which it acquired last year, with the block currently contributing 25 percent to the national oil output, an expert has said.

“We need to laud this achievement because it proves Pertamina’s capability, including on the production strategy aspect, as equal to the previous Rokan Block operator, Chevron. The production expansion and oil well recovery strategies have shown a good outcome,” Research Data Indonesia Head Herry Gunawan stated in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Oil company Pertamina’s success in Rokan Block, which is currently being operated by its subsidiary PT Pertamina Hulu Rokan, brings new hope for Indonesia’s economy and to efforts towards achieving national trade balance, the expert added.

“Pertamina’s success in Rokan Block is important amidst the current oil deficit. Production at Rokan Block could also relieve the burden to maintain our balance of trade,” Gunawan remarked.

The high oil production in Rokan Block implies the potential for increasing state revenue through taxation and profit-sharing schemes, he added.

The expert also highlighted that Rokan Block will be key for achieving the national production target of one million barrels of oil per day by 2030.

Besides being advantageous for the national economy, the positive performance will also augment Pertamina’s corporate performance and open new jobs for the people, he said.

“That is why strategic measures taken by Pertamina in the largest oil block in Indonesia must be supported by all,” Gunawan added.

Earlier, House of Representatives (DPR RI) Commission VII legislator Dyah Roro Esti also lauded Pertamina’s positive performance as essential to achieving the 2030 production target.

The legislator expressed the hope that other gas and oil companies operating in Indonesia would be motivated by Pertamina’s performance.

Source: Antara News

PHNOM PENH — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday confirmed he had invited Myanmar’s junta chief to a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), on the condition he makes progress on a peace plan he agreed to last year.

Hun Sen, the ASEAN chair, said he would talk to military chief Min Aung Hlaing by video on Wednesday, noting that since their Jan. 7 meeting in Myanmar, ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been sentenced to four years’ detention and military aircraft had been deployed in operations.

Min Aung Hlaing led a coup in Myanmar last year and ASEAN made a surprise move in barring his junta from key meetings over its failure to honor a five-point ASEAN “consensus” that included ceasing hostilities and allowing dialog.

“He (Hun Sen) said that he had invited HE (His Excellency) Min Aung Hlaing to attend the ASEAN summit if there was progress in the implementation of the five points agreed unanimously,” said a statement on Hun Sen’s Facebook page, summarizing a call with Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“But if not, he must send a non-political representative to ASEAN meetings.”

As new chair of ASEAN, Cambodia has indicated it wants to engage not isolate the junta, but Hun Sen has been pressed by several ASEAN leaders, including those of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, not to give way on the agreement, which is backed by the United Nations and United States.

The overthrow of Suu Kyi’s elected government in Myanmar has been a setback for ASEAN and its efforts to present itself as a credible and integrated bloc.

Hun Sen’s Myanmar visit caused concern within the group that it could suggest ASEAN recognition of the generals, who have overseen a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy forces.

Fissures have been exposed over the Myanmar issue and Hun Sen last week took a swipe at Malaysia’s foreign minister, calling him arrogant for voicing concern about him meeting the junta chief.

The ASEAN consensus includes halting offensives and granting full access to a special ASEAN envoy to all parties in the conflict.

Malaysian leader Ismail Sabri told Hun Sen there was an urgent need to de-escalate the Myanmar situation and release Suu Kyi and all political prisoners, according to a foreign ministry statement.

Source: Voice of America