Day: March 14, 2023

Spartanburg, S.C. (ANTARA/BusinessWire)- For the seventeenth year in a row, diversified global manufacturer Milliken and Company has been recognized by Ethisphere, a leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the2023 World’s Most Ethical Companies. Milliken is one of 135 honorees spanning 19 countries and 46 industries and one of only six honorees appearing on the World’s Most Ethical Companies list every year since the award was founded in 2007.”At Milliken, we are guided by a commitment to do the right thing,” shared Halsey Cook, president and CEO of Milliken and Company. “We’re honored to be recognized once again, and we’re proud of the strong sense of integrity that drives our global team.” Doing what is right encourages Milliken to take bold steps across its diverse portfolio. Guided by its five core values–integrity, excellence, innovation, sustainability and people–Milliken works to be a leader in responsible and sustainable manufacturing. Its 2025 Sustainability Goals define the company’s work with its products, its people and the planet. In addition, Milliken recently announced its path toward a net-zero future by 2050 withScience Based Targets initiative (SBTi) approved short- and long-term net-zero targets. “Milliken has been a part of our World Most Ethical Companies honorees for the last 17 years–the only industrial manufacturer to meet the 17-time honoree milestone,” said Ethisphere CEO, Erica Salmon Byrne. “We commend the entire team on their dedication to making real impact for their stakeholders and commitment to exemplary values-based leadership.” Ethisphere’s 2023 Ethics Index, the collection of publicly traded companies recognized as recipients of this year’s World’s Most Ethical Companies designation, outperformed a comparable index of large-cap companies by 13.6 percentage points over a five-year period. Methodology and Scoring rounded in Ethisphere’s proprietary Ethics Quotient, the World’s Most Ethical Companies assessment process includes more than 200 questions on culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance activities, governance, diversity, and initiatives that support a strong value chain. The process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify the leading practices of organizations across industries and around the globe. Honorees To view the full list of this year’s honorees, visit the World’s Most Ethical Companieswebsite. bout Milliken Milliken and Company is a global manufacturing leader whose focus on materials science delivers tomorrow’s breakthroughs today. From industry-leading molecules to sustainable innovations, Milliken creates products that enhance people’s lives and deliver solutions for its customers and communities. Drawing on thousands of patents and a portfolio with applications across the textile, specialty chemical, flooring and healthcare businesses, the company harnesses a shared sense of integrity and excellence to positively impact the world for generations. Discover more about Milliken’s curious minds and inspired solutions atmilliken.comand onFacebook,Instagram, andLinkedIn. bout Ethisphere Ethisphereis the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust, and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through itsWorld’s Most Ethical Companiesrecognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA), and showcases trends and best practices in ethics withEthisphere Magazine. Ethisphere also helps to advance business performance through data-driven assessments, guidance, and benchmarking against its unparalleled data: the Culture Quotient dataset focused on ethical culture and featuring the responses of 2+ million employees around the world; and the Ethics Quotient dataset, featuring 200+ data points highlighting the ethics, compliance, social, and governance practices of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. For more information, visit

Source: Antara News Agency

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said that just Rp34 trillion out of the total budget allocation of Rp77 trillion for the stunting fund directly benefited toddlers and pregnant women.She made the remark at the launch of the synchronization of the Work Plan and Budget of Ministries and Institutions (Renja-RKA), which was followed virtually from Jakarta on Tuesday. She informed that 283 stunting sub-activities were carried out by local governments with the total fund allocation of Rp77 trillion, while the second highest budget allocation of Rp240 billion was made for coordination activities. “While the real stunting reduction effort is the provision of nutritional food (spending on) that only reached Rp34 trillion. The amount of money used to actually prevent and reduce stunting was so little because there were 283 other sub-activities, including repairing the fences of community health centers (puskesmas),” she said. ccording to her, the government has much work to do regarding stunting prevention. Efficient budget spending would determine the quality of life of the Indonesian people. “The more we use the budget properly, the more people will feel the benefits. The economy will also grow and become resilient in facing global situations, including turbulence, tension, and various issues in the world,” she said. Therefore, through planning and budgeting synchronization, effective use of the state budget can be increased to achieve national development goals and meet expected targets, including reduced stunting rates, low inflation, and high investment, the minister added. Meanwhile, Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic ReformAbdullah Azwar Anas said that his ministry implemented online consultations on stunting prevention to cut travel costs of bringing officials or guests to the ministerial office. The step helped save on the costs of bringing 85 percent of guests to the ministry. “Usually, after we release new regulations, many guests visit us and it requires a budget for food and beverages. We hope our online consultation regulation can help to cut the budget,” he added. Thus, the efficiencies in the government’s official travel budget of Rp75 billion can be allocated to stunting handling, he noted. “By saving travel budget amounting to Rp75 billion, we can allocate it to help 14,700 stunted babies who need our help,” the minister said.

Source: Antara News Agency

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) said it is implementing a bioremediation method that uses microorganisms to degrade hydrocarbon pollutants to bolster the government’s mangrove restoration program. polluted mangrove ecosystem can hamper the growth of affected plants and cause them to die, an applied microbiology researcher at BRIN, Idris, said in a statement that ANTARA.received from the agency here Tuesday. The total area under mangrove forests has continued to decline due to deforestation. Further, according to the statement, the success rate of the mangrove replanting program is below 21 percent. Hence, the researcher said, BRIN examined the characteristics of a number of microbes, which were isolated using the in vitro technique, from sediments taken from a mangrove ecosystem. Based on the results of the research, BRIN identified several bacteria that have a good ability to degrade hydrocarbon pollutants. “The obtained bacteria were then developed in a consortium named the BioReMang G1 formula,” he informed. Based on BRIN’s observations, six months after planting, mangroves that were treated with the BioReMang G1 formula developed better compared to those that did not get the treatment. None of the plants that did not receive bioremediation treatment survived, while 30 percent of the mangroves that were given the formula were able to grow. “This formula can be used to increase the success of mangrove reforestation by reducing the level of pollution in the mangrove ecosystem,” Idris remarked. trial application of the method was carried out in the Segara Anakan mangrove area, Cilacap District, Central Java Province, in collaboration with a local mangrove awareness group, Krida Wana Lestari. The species tested with the BioReMang G1 formula were Bruguiera sp. and Rhizophora sp. BRIN has committed to bolstering the formula to improve its effectiveness as currently, the formula is in liquid form and mangrove forests in Indonesia have swift water currents. Furthermore, the BioReMang G1 formula would be combined with other technologies developed by researchers from various scientific backgrounds to help the reforestation program succeed, the researcher added.

Source: Antara News Agency

Bandung, West Java (ANTARA) – National Police (Polri) chief, General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, has said that Polri is planning to provide electric vehicle registration certificates (e-STNK) to improve public service quality through the utilization of digital technology.”Today, the e-Signal app was launched; this is a system for the STNK extension service. Soon, we will plan an e-STNK after we develop the program,” he informed after attending a national coordination meeting of the One-stop Administrative System’s (Samsat’s) developers here on Tuesday. He said that the Police Traffic Corps has launched several programs to improve services to the community, one of which is the Electronic Samsat Digital (e-Signal) app, which allows vehicle owners to extend their STNK online. “Currently, the extension of STNK can be (done) online, but we are also preparing e-STNK,” the police chief added. Other than STNK online extension, the e-Signal app has other features, for instance, it allows users to pay motorized vehicle tax (PKB) and make their Road Transport Accident Fund Compulsory Contribution (SWDKLLJ). The nationally integrated application, which can be downloaded on mobile phones, utilizes the police’s database of motorized vehicles, the Population and Civil Registry database of the Home Affairs Ministry, and the PKB information system managed by each provincial revenue agency (Bapenda). In addition to providing services to the community digitally, the app also accommodates the interests of other parties such as Bapenda, state-owned insurer Jasa Raharja, and the Regional Development Bank (BPD). The e-Signal system can also verify the identities of motorized vehicle owners through face matching with electronic national identity card (e-KTP) data of the Home Ministry. Meanwhile, the head of West Java Bapenda, Dedi Taufik, expressed support for Polri, which has made the application, saying that the app can be key for data synchronization. The app does not necessarily replace almost similar applications that have been made by local governments; instead, it gives people more choice in accessing government services, he said.

Source: Antara News Agency

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga has lauded micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) players, particularly women, for contributing to national economic development.”MSMEs’ contribution to the gross domestic product is 61 percent. They can also employ 97 percent of the workforce. Of the total 65.5 million Indonesian MSMEs, some 64 million are micro businesses, more than half of which are owned and managed by women,”she said in a statement received here on Tuesday. This means that the GDP ratecannot be separated from the role of women who own and manage half of those 64 million micro businesses in Indonesia, she said during her visit with Singaporean Minister for Social and Family Development, Masagos Zulkifli, to Sarinah Building, Central Jakarta, on Monday, to review handicrafts made by MSMEs in Indonesia. Women have great potential and they are capable of making impactful contributions to Indonesia, including in economic aspects, Puspayoga highlighted. “The potential of women needs to be consistently explored, one of which is through the priority program of the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, as per a directive from the President on improving women’s empowerment in entrepreneurship, which adopts a gender perspective,” she added. She also urged everyone to support national MSMEs as a manifestation of their love for domestic products in order to improve the national economy. The visit to Sarinah Building was the last activity on the agenda of Minister Zulkifli and Minister Puspayoga. Their agenda was a follow-up to the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two nation’s ministries on November 8, 2022, in Singapore. The MoU covers collaboration on women’s empowerment, children protection, and family development through the sharing of information and good practices, scheduling of programs and projects, and participation in events or training programs hosted by either ministry.

Source: Antara News Agency

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Communication and Informatics Ministry has outlined five tips for micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) players looking to ensure the continuity of their businesses.”The first tip for MSMEs is to ensure that they can maintain optimal quality of products and services. For products and services, never once attempt to compromise on quality,” Director of Information and Communication on Economic and Maritime Affairs at the ministrySeptriana Tangkarysaid here on Tuesday. If MSMEs offer good quality products and services, they will become more reputable, and they will have greater market access, she explained. MSME products and services must consistently be improved through innovations and developments that involve consumers, she said. “Do not ever feel as if a product, which is already good, needs no more improvement. It would eventually cost us some customers because it has not been improved,” Tangkary cautioned. The second tip is for MSMEs to manage their finances well and tap into the potential of digitalization. Financial management includes improving capability in terms of financial literacy and digital literacy, she said. By honing their skills in those two aspects, MSMEs can improve the performance of their businesses through digitalization. The third tip is for MSMEs to use all digital marketing platforms to extend their market reach. “By optimizing digital marketing, MSMEs can have greater access to markets. (If access) through WhatsApp groups is already fast as it is, (then imagine) if all social medias and marketplaces are used; of course, the marketing will be more effective,” she highlighted. The fourth tip is for them to consistently undertake networking and establish new connections as that could help open up greater access to market and capital as well as improve the supply chain for the distribution of their products, Tangkary said. Lastly, MSMEs must consider the environmental aspects and adapt to them, she advised. “For example, when we sell coffee, we prefer paper-based packaging compared to plastics. So on top of giving good and appealing packaging, we also give positive impact for the environment,” she said. ccording to the ASEAN Investment Report, as of September 2022, Indonesia has 65.46 million MSMEs, with their contribution to the national gross domestic product reaching 60.3 percent. Despite this, only 30 percent of MSMEs joined the digital ecosystem in 2022, according to the Cooperatives and SMEs Ministry. It is expected that national MSMEs will develop and maintain the sustainability of their businesses in 2024, and more than 30 million MSMEs will tap into digitization.

Source: Antara News Agency

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Industry Ministry aims for the upcoming Business Matching Domestic Product Purchase Program at the Senayan Sports Palace, Jakarta, to generate transactions worth Rp400 trillion (US$26 billion).Secretary General of the Industry Ministry Dody Widodo stated that the figure aligns with directives from the Lead of the National Team of Domestic Products Use, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. “Last year, it was Rp214 trillion (US$14 billion). Now, it needs to be more than that. As Mr Pandjaitan had said, the figure is potentially Rp400 trillion,” he remarked here on Tuesday. Widodo noted that such amount of purchases spent on domestic products will be impactful to the growth in national industry development, thereby ultimately boosting economic growth. The 2023 Business Matching serves to exhibit domestic products that are able to meet demands from ministries, institutions, state-owned companies, and regional governments. “All transactions will be recorded every month, so the purchases can be monitored in the system, from planning, procurement, to payment,” Widodo elaborated. He noted that the purchase of domestic products will have a significant impact on the national industry’s sustainability. With the government as a captive market, the industry can improve its capability and become better, he noted. Hence, Widodo expects all stakeholders to make the most of the program. He said the 2023 Business Matching Domestic Products initiative aims to facilitate a meeting between entities that use domestic products — institutions, regional governments, and companies — and domestic industry players. Commitment-making officials, industry associations, services and products associations, and producers will participate in the program. Under the program, there will also be a talk show with 10 institutions having the most budgets as speakers. Moreover, domestic products’ exhibitions will be held, and various forms of technical guidance will be offered. In addition, a forum will be held to discuss about developments in the use of domestic products of each institution. Participants looking for further information on the Domestic Component Rate can obtain it from the consultation corner open every day during the event. Moreover, certain services will be offered to small industries by relevant stakeholders. The ministry is collaborating with the Defense Ministry in hosting the event.

Source: Antara News Agency

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Synchronizing planning and budgeting can lead to more efficient use of the state budget and help achieve the national development target in the most optimal way, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.”Of course, we all expect that with an application created, supposedly it can reduce the (processing) time and facilitate the budget users to plan, and then get the budget, and be accountable for that said budget,” the minister added. She made the remarks at the launch of the synchronization of the Work Plan for Ministries and Institutions and the Budgeting Plan for Ministries and Institutions, which was accessed from here on Tuesday. Minister Indrawati informed that synchronizing planning and budgeting will remove repetitive processes and ultimately reform the bureaucracy to make it more effective and efficient, thereby improving national development. “Synchronization (cuts down) processes from 13 to eight processes,” she pointed out. By integrating the two, the state budget, which is a limited resource, can be allocated efficiently for national development. “A challenge for a state is using the budget as good, as efficiently as possible in order to meet the national target,” she noted. Meanwhile, National Development Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa said that planning and budgeting are important aspects of the government system as a means to reach the national development target and to ensure that the state budget is allocated effectively. “Separated planning and budgeting process, of course, will lead to deviation,” he added. National planning and budgeting follow some principles, such as designing and setting up the long-term priority target of a state, Minister Monoarfa said. They also involve annual budgeting based on national medium-term development planning as well as the strategic planning of each institution and ministry, he added. Moreover, monitoring and evaluation are important parts of the process for ensuring that the resources are allocated in an effective and sustainable manner to meet the desired target, the minister said. ccording to Monoarfa, in following the principles, his ministry always carries out efforts to improve documents on planning by emphasizing the continuity of long-term, medium-term, and annual planning; strengthening central and regional government coordination; making the planning and budgeting process more accountable and transparent; and improving the monitoring and evaluation of budgeting. “All of this we do to ensure that documents on planning have been arranged in a comprehensive manner, which is in line with development priorities, as well as scientifically accountable,” he elaborated. overnment Regulation Number 17 of 2017 about national development planning and budgeting synchronization requires the Finance Ministry and the National Development Planning Ministry to integrate annual planning and budgeting to control the development program well and ensure that government programs are conducted accordingly.

Source: Antara News Agency