G20 talks overshadowed by Ukraine war as host Indonesia
 seeks consensus 

  G20 finance leaders meeting in Bali must make progress tackling the global economic threats
  sparked by Russia's war in Ukraine or the humanitarian consequences would be catastrophic,
  host Indonesia said on Friday. 

  Some Western ministers blasted Russian officials attending the talks, with U.S. Treasury
  Secretary Janet Yellen saying Russia's "brutal and unjust war" was solely responsible for the
  economic crisis the world now faced. 

  Finance leaders from the Group of 20 major economies are meeting on the resort island, as
  host Indonesia tries to find common ground in a group frayed by the Ukraine war and rising
  economic pressures from soaring inflation. 

  Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin calls a "special military operation", has
  overshadowed recent G20 meetings, including last week's gathering of foreign ministers. 

  Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the world had high hopes the group
  could find a solution to the threat of war, rising commodity prices and the spillover effects on
  the ability of low-income countries to repay debt. 

  "We are acutely aware that the cost of our failure to work together is more than we can afford.
  The humanitarian consequences for the world, and especially for many low income countries
  would be catastrophic," she said. 

  G20 members include Western countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia and accuse
  it of war crimes in Ukraine - which Moscow denies - as well as nations like China, India and
  South Africa, which have been more muted in their responses. 

  Sri Mulyani called for G20 members to talk less about politics and "build bridges between each
  other" to deliver more technical decisions and concrete action. 

  Yellen said Russian finance officials at the meeting shared responsibility for the "horrific 
  consequences" of the war. 

  "By starting this war, Russia is solely responsible for negative spillovers to the global economy,
  particularly higher commodity prices," Yellen said. 

  Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov was attending the meetings in Bali, while
  Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was participating virtually at the time, a source
  familiar with the matter said. 

  Maksimov addressed the gathering and there was no walk out by other leaders, the source
  said. 

  Western countries have repeatedly said there cannot be "business as usual" at the G20
  meetings due to Russia's presence. 

  Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told Russian officials that she held them
  personally responsible for "war crimes" committed during Russia's war, a Western official told
  Reuters. 

  Freeland, whose maternal grandparents were born in Ukraine, told the opening G20 session
  that the war was the "single biggest threat to the global economy right now," the official said. 

  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walked out of one session of a G20 meeting with his
  counterparts in Bali last week, following what he called "frenzied criticism" of his country over
  the war. 

  That meeting ended without a communique nor any announcements of agreements. 

  Yellen said one of her key objectives was to push G20 creditors, including China, to finalise
  debt relief for countries in debt distress. 

  Source: Reuters

  Indonesia begins chicken exports to Singapore; first shipment
 contains 50 tonnes of frozen chicken 

 
  Under a business-to-business agreement, Charoen Pokphand Indonesia will supply 1,000
  tonnes of chicken meat to Singapore until the end of the year. 
  

  Fifty tonnes of frozen chicken were exported from Indonesia to Singapore on Wednesday (Jul 13).  

  This is the first shipment of products under a new arrangement for Indonesian companies to
  export chicken to Singapore.  

  Charoen Pokphand Indonesia (CPI), which is a subsidiary of Thailand-based food conglomerate
  Charoen Pokphand, said that it has secured a contract with a Singapore importer to supply
  1,000 tonnes of chicken meat until the end of the year. 

  "Hopefully (Indonesia's) poultry export to Singapore will be sustainable and continue to grow for
  years to come," said CPI’s president commissoner Hadi Gunawan Tjoe at a ceremony to mark
  the occassion. 

  "We hope that this first shipment to Singapore will boost the national poultry industry and open
  the way for Indonesian poultry products to penetrate the global market further." 

  Indonesian Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo, who was also present at the ceremony,
  said: "Singapore has a high standard for their food imports. I hope that this shipment will
  boost confidence of other countries towards Indonesian food products." 

  The minister also told reporters that President Joko Widodo has prioritised Indonesia’s domestic
  needs and national food security. 

  “Right now, we are experiencing an oversupply of chicken which enables us to export our chicken
  products overseas,” he noted.  

  “This will inspire producers to boost their production so that we can continue to enjoy such
  surplus, fulfil the global demand for poultry products, while still maintaining our food security
  and stability of prices domestically.” 

  Besides Singapore, CPI has also exported chicken and chicken products to Japan, Timor-Leste,
  Papua Guinea and Qatar. 

  According to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), three companies from Indonesia had been given
  permission to export chicken meat and chicken meat products into the country. 

  Two of the companies are Indonesian subsidiaries of Charoen Pokphand, while the other is a
  subsidiary of Indonesian frozen food giant Japfa Comfeed. 

  It is not yet known when the other two companies will begin exporting their products to
  Singapore. 

  The Indonesian Agriculture Ministry said earlier this week that there are 12 other Indonesian
  companies which are currently seeking permission to export chicken products to Singapore.
  All applications have been submitted to SFA. 

  The SFA has said that individual establishments and farms needed to be evaluated and
  approved, with detailed documentary evaluations and on-site audits for verification, before they
  are given permission to export food to Singapore. 

  Singapore imported 214,400 tonnes of chicken meat last year, about a third were from Malaysia. 

  Malaysia has put in place an export ban of up to 3.6 million chickens a month, following supply
  and pricing issues domestically, with some chicken traders selling whole chickens above the
  price ceiling to cover their costs. 

  Following the export ban, Singapore announced that it will source chickens from other places,
  including Indonesia and Thailand. 

  The SFA announced on Jun 30 that it has added Indonesia as a new source for the import of
  chilled, frozen and processed chicken. 

  Speaking to CNA, CPI’s president director Thomas Effendi said the contract to export 1,000
  tonnes of chicken is valued between 30 billion rupiah (US$2 million) and 40 billion rupiah. 

  "The 1,000 tonne agreement is just the beginning ... We would still like to grow our market share. We believe this
  figure will grow bigger. How big it will be, we cannot say but Singapore is a big market," he said. 

  He added that CPI is currently in talks with a second Singapore company to export more
  chickens.  

  Mr Effendi added that CPI is also aiming to export live birds to Singapore. 

  "We do have the resources to export live chickens because we have a farm in Batam. We are
  looking for ways to get ourselves certified to export live chickens," he said. 

  Source: CNA

  Government reinstates booster shot rule for domestic travelers 
 

  As part of efforts to ramp up the country’s stalling vaccination rollout amid the recent uptick in
  COVID-19 cases, the government has included booster shots in the checklist for domestic
  travels. 

  The new travel rules, which cover domestic travelers using all modes of transportation, whether
  by air, sea or land, were penned in a circular signed by National Disaster Mitigation Agency
  (BNPB) head Suharyanto on Friday. It will go into effect starting on July 17 for an
  undetermined period of time. 

  Travelers who have received a third dose are exempted from mandatory pre-departure testing,
  in the government’s bid to encourage people to get booster vaccines and improve the public's
  immunity against new COVID-19 subvariants.  

  But travelers who have only completed the two-dose primary vaccination must now present
  proof of a negative result from an antigen test taken 24 hours before departure or from a
  PCR test taken a maximum of three days before the trip. They will also be able to take
  a booster shot on-site in departure points.  

  Travelers who had only one dose of the vaccine must show a negative PCR test result, while
  people who are medically unable to receive the vaccines must present a doctor’s letter,
  in addition to a negative PCR-test result.  

  Children aged six to 17 are required to present only their proof of primary vaccination, while
  children under six, who cannot yet be vaccinated, will be required to travel with a guardian
  who has been fully vaccinated. The government’s booster-shot regiment currently consists
  of numerous heterologous and homologous options.  

  The Chinese Sinovac and Zivifax vaccines were the latest to join the regiment, following
  mounting public calls for halal-vaccine options.  

  A similar booster rule was previously in effect in May around Idul Fitri holidays as part of a
  requirement for mudik (exodus) travelers. 

  Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman of Griffith University in Australia welcomed the return of the
  policy, saying that it was necessary amid the country’s increasing cases and ever-emerging
  threats of foreign variants.  

  “This will certainly lower the risk of spreading or being exposed to the coronavirus. But, I'd say
  the booster rule should be a part of a more comprehensive pandemic strategy,” he said.  

  He said that the strategy needed to include a better mechanism for vaccine distribution to
  ensure equal and abundant stocks of vaccines nationwide.  

  Stagnating vaccination

  The return of the policy came amid the country's dropping vaccination rate, which has decreased
  by 83 percent in the past five months.  

  Daily vaccine distribution has also significantly dwindled, now averaging about 200,000 shots a
  day. This was a sharp decline from December 2021, when Indonesia managed to vaccinate
  more than 1.2 million people a day. 

  By Tuesday, some 169 million people, or 81 percent of the target population, had received a
  second dose of the vaccine. But only around 25 percent of the target recipients had
  received their third jabs. 

  Health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril Mansyur attributed the slowdown to
  increasing vaccine hesitancy, saying that the public started to feel that vaccines were
  not necessary as the COVID-19 situation improved after the deadly Delta-variant-fueled
  wave of infections devastated the country last year.  
 

  Even though COVID-19 cases have generally increased since last month, fueled by the spread
  of two new highly contagious Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, nationwide hospitalizations
  and fatalities remain relatively low. As with the original Omicron variant, the subvariants do
  not appear to cause severe symptoms.  

  Around 2,400 new cases have been detected each day since July 5 -- most of which were in
  Jakarta.  

  Nationwide vaccine rollout still failed to pick up pace even after infections started to increase
  in June because of the Omicron subvariants. 

  Mask rule

  President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Sunday reminded the public to wear masks in both indoor
  and outdoor settings.  

  This contradicts his statement in late May, when he announced that people are no longer
  required to wear masks in outdoor settings although he still recommended mask-wearing
  in crowded outdoor settings, as well as for the elderly and those with underlying health
  conditions and acute coughing.  

  At the time, Indonesia’s daily caseload averaged around the 300 mark. 

  It remains unclear, however, if Jokowi is looking to formally reimpose a mandatory-mask rule.  

  When asked whether the national COVID-19 task force would publish such a regulation,
  spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the task force had
  actually always required people to wear masks through its circulars.  

  Such circulars currently in effect are those regulating domestic and international travels, as
  well as the one regulating large-scale events. They, however, mention nothing about
  mandatory mask-wearing in uncrowded outdoor settings.  

  Health-expert Tjandra Yoga Aditama said mandatory mask-wearing was essential to protecting
  the public amid increasing infections.  

  “The recent [COVID-19] developments should put the country in a state of caution […]
  The President's statement [on Sunday] is crucial, because protection through masks is
  very important,” he said. 
 

  Source: The Jakarta Post