Menteri Koordinator Bidang Perekonomian Airlangga Hartarto/Ist
Dibentuk sebagai salah satu forum kemitraan yang memprioritaskan pembangunan ekonomi daerah untuk mengurangi kesenjangan serta meningkatkan daya saing dan kesejahteraan masyarakat di sub-kawasan, Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand, Growth Triangle atau IMT-GT terus menunjukkan resiliensi dalam menjaga kondisi perekonomian di tengah berbagai tantangan global saat ini.
“Saya senang menyambut Anda di Batam untuk Pertemuan Tingkat Menteri IMT-GT ke-29 Pertemuan tahun ini menandai 30 tahun berdirinya IMT-GT, sebuah momen yang sangat penting untuk meninjau kembali kerja sama kita agar tetap relevan dalam situasi yang dinamis,” kata Menteri Koordinator Bidang Perekonomian Airlangga Hartarto saat membuka Pertemuan Tingkat Menteri (PTM) IMT-GT ke-29 di Batam, hari Jumat, 29/09/2023.
Airlangga menuturkan, Pendapatan Domestik Bruto di kawasan telah menunjukkan kenaikan yang sigfinikan dari USD20 miliar pada tahun 1993 menjadi USD405.7 miliar di tahun 2021.
Total perdagangan dan investasi kawasan yang terus tumbuh, masing-masing dengan nilai total USD727 miliar dan USD20.1 USD pada tahun 2022. Meski sempat melambat saat terjadinya pandemi Covid-19, sektor pariwisata di kawasan juga mampu kembali bangkit dan terus tumbuh secara
signifikan.
“Ketidakpastian global, perubahan iklim, kerawanan pangan dan energi, kita perlu dorong tranformasi digital, kembangkan ekonomi kreatif, hijau dan biru serta maksimalkan sektor-sektor unggulan, seperti pariwisata, pertanian dan industri halal,” kata Airlangga.
Airlangga juga kembali menekankan pentingnya IMT-GT untuk terus meningkatkan konektivitas fisik dan digital dalam mendukung integrasi kawasan, serta bersinergi dengan masterplan konektivitas ASEAN 2025.
Lebih jauh, Airlangga menyampaikan untuk mengoptimalkan kolaborasi dan kolektivitas serta menyerukan para Kepala Daerah IMT-GT yang tergabung dalam Chief Ministers and Governors Forum (CMGF) untuk merubah paradigma dalam merencanakan pembangunan daerah.
“Kita perlu beralih pandangan individual ke pembangunan berwawasan kolektif, fokus pada peningkatan sinergi dan keselarasan, untuk memperkuat konektivitas. Gunakan pengalaman 30 tahun kerjasama untuk membuat terobosan baru. Pemerintah pusat dan daerah perlu memaksimalkan CMGF sebagai wadah koordinasi dan kerjasama yang berorientasi pada hasil serta perwujudan kolaboratif para pemangku kepentingan lokal dan berorientasi kawasan,” tegas Airlangga
Amid Kiev's botched counteroffensive, which has shown no progress since its initiation in early June, there is a growing number of Ukrainian soldiers opting to surrender by raising a white flag.
Clayton Morris, an American journalist, has expressed his astonishment at a series of videos showcasing the significant surrender of Ukrainian armed forces (UAF) servicemen. This surrender was seen even through the utilization of a newly established Russian radio frequency.
“This is amazing. This is a story the Western media does not want you to see,” Morris said on his YouTube channel, referring to “tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers laying down the weapons and surrendering to the Russian troops.”
According to a reliable source, recently there has been a significant increase in the number of Ukrainian troops utilizing a dedicated radio frequency to communicate their willingness to disarm. The revelation comes after the individual's statement was reported by Russian media. The frequency was set up by Russian forces in mid-summer.
🪖 WATCH Ukrainian servicemen surrender to Russian forces in Svatovo-Kremennaya area of Donbass
The servicemen used an open channel to contact the Russian Army, and brought boxes of ammunition with them, a source close to the situation told Sputnik.
“Now more than 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen have already chosen life and used the 149.200 ‘Volga’ frequency to surrender. The captives are well-fed and provided with all necessary medical care,” the source said.
After the start of Kiev's counteroffensive in early June, Governor Yevgeny Balitsky of the Zaporozhye region confirmed that a large number of Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen began surrendering in great numbers.
“Unlike in spring when one or two Ukrainian soldiers surrendered, now whole UAF units are laying down the arms; surrendering, there were no company [units]; we even witnessed platoon surrenders,” Balitsky pointed out.
He added that the Ukrainian POWs have decent living conditions and that no one beats or tortures them.
The remarks came after a source in the Russian special services told Sputnik that on the Zaporozhye frontline, Ukrainian soldiers are being urged to surrender with the help of leaflets in the form of hryvnias, which are being dropped on UAF positions.
“We are working to prevent pointless bloodshed among by Ukrainian soldiers. We are distributing leaflets asking those servicemen to surrender,” the source stressed.
The leaflets contain information on how UAF troops can contact the Russian military to discuss the time and place of surrender, according to the insider.
📹 Left to their own fate: Ukrainian recovery team abandons wounded soldiers, drives away
A Ukrainian emergency recovery team exhibited serious “weakness” and low morale, deputy commander of the Tsar's Wolves brigade code named "Okhota" (Hunt) told Sputnik, providing video footage of these events.
In the video, a detachment of Ukrainian servicemen can be seen moving through a forest belt (0:16), who then come under Russian mortar fire from a BARS-1 volunteer battalion. According to “Okhota”, the scene took place in the Zaporozhye Region this July.
Later in the clip, a Ukrainian evacuation armored vehicle is seen arriving (0:29) and releasing a smoke screen (0:33), but only takes those on board who manage to run to it, while leaving more seriously wounded servicemen behind (01:00). Such instances are common among Ukrainian troops on the battlefield, Okhota stressed.
Since early June, the UAF has been trying to advance on the Zaporozhye, Yuzhnodonetsk and Artemovsk fronts, not least with the help of combat units trained and armed by NATO instructors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized earlier this month that Ukrainian troops had failed to achieve any significant success on all the frontlines.This week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed reporters that during the failed counteroffensive in Kiev, the UAF suffered substantial losses of over 17,000 soldiers and more than 2,700 pieces of weaponry, all within the span of September alone. Since the start of this botched push, the UAF have lost at least 84,000 soldiers, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters during a press briefing about a looming shutdown of the U.S. government at the Capitol in Washington, September 29, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Acquire Licensing Rights
Hardline Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday rejected a bill proposed by their leader to temporarily fund the government, making it all but certain that federal agencies will partially shut down beginning on Sunday.
In a 232-198 vote, the House defeated a measure that would extend government funding by 30 days and avert a shutdown. That bill would have slashed spending and restricted immigration, Republican priorities that had little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate.
The defeat left Republicans - who control the chamber by 221-212 - without a clear strategy to avert a shutdown that would close national parks, disrupt pay for up to 4 million federal workers and hobble everything from financial oversight to scientific research if funding is not extended past 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT) on Sunday.
After the vote, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the chamber might still pass a funding extension without the conservative policies that had alienated Democrats. But he declined to say what would happen next. The chamber is expected to hold more votes on Saturday.
"It's only a failure if you quit," he told reporters.
It was not clear whether the Senate would act in time, either. The chamber was due on Saturday afternoon to take up a bipartisan bill that would fund the government through Nov. 17, but procedural hurdles could delay a final vote until Tuesday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday that a government shutdown would "undermine" U.S. economic progress by idling programs for small businesses and children and could delay major infrastructure improvements.
The shutdown would be the fourth in a decade and just four months after a similar standoff brought the federal government within days of defaulting on its $31 trillion debt. The repeated brinkmanship has raised worries on Wall Street, where the Moody's ratings agency has warned it could damage U.S. creditworthiness.
HEAVY TOLL ON MILITARY, SAYS BIDEN
Biden warned that a shutdown could take a heavy toll on the armed forces.
"We can't be playing politics while our troops stand in the breach. It's an absolute dereliction of duty," Biden, a Democrat, said at a retirement ceremony for Mark Milley, a senior general.
McCarthy had hoped the Republican spending bill's border provisions would have won over holdouts who so far have defied efforts to avert a shutdown.
In the end, 21 hardline House Republicans sided with Democrats to defeat the measure.
"There are members who don't care whether the government stays open or it shuts down," said Republican Representative Kat Cammack told reporters. "The ones that I believe are OK with a shutdown have never been through a shutdown."
Holdouts say Congress should focus on writing detailed spending bills that would cover the entire fiscal year, rather than temporary extensions, even if doing so prompts a shutdown. The House has passed four full-year bills so far, though they stand no chance of winning Senate approval.
"What does work is rolling up our sleeves and getting onto these single subject bills and moving them," Representative Matt Gaetz said on a podcast after voting against the stopgap bill on Friday.
Other Republicans said they would probably have to work with Democrats to pass a stopgap bill that could win approval in the Senate and from Biden. "Some people are missing the obvious," said Republican Representative Don Bacon.
McCarthy said he was considering that approach but would not accept additional aid to Ukraine that Biden has requested and lawmakers in the Senate are including in their stopgap bill.
Former President Donald Trump, Biden's likely election opponent in 2024, criticized Senate Republicans for working with Democrats.
Gaetz and a handful of other hardliners have threatened to oust McCarthy from his leadership role if he relies on Democratic votes.
"We're in the middle of a Republican civil war that has been going on for months, and now threatens a catastrophic government shutdown," top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.
McCarthy and Biden in June agreed to a deal that would have set agency spending at $1.59 trillion in fiscal 2024, but hardliners like Gaetz say that figure should be $120 billion lower. Lawmakers are not considering cuts to popular benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare that make up a larger portion of the government's $6.4 trillion budget.
The Russian Aerospace Forces hammered Ukrainian positions at the Avdeyevka Coke and Chemical Plant in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The Russian aircraft destroyed the Ukrainian troops, as well as ammunition and oil depots.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has published footage of Russian forces launching air strike at the Ukrainian ammunition and oil depots concealed at the plant premises in the Avdeyevka area.
Moscow completely dominates in the air, ravaging Kiev's troops and crushing NATO-supplied military equipment, as well as crippling the much-touted counteroffensive launched on June 4.
Being futile from the very beginning, the counteroffensive has brought Zelensky’s regime nothing but shame, humungous losses, and the disappointment of its Western partners.
Russian Forces Destroy Control Center of Foreign Legion in Ukraine
The Russian military has launched nine strikes at targets in Ukraine using cruise missiles and drones this week, the Defense Ministry stated on Friday, adding that a control center belonging to the Ukrainian Foreign Legion has been destroyed.
"In the period from September 24 to 29, the Russian armed forces carried out nine strikes with long-range precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles. Ammunition depots, military equipment of Ukrainian armed forces, training sites of sabotage groups, as well as accommodation facilities for Ukrainian military personnel and foreign mercenaries were hit," the ministry reported.
The strikes destroyed a control center of the Foreign Legion, two large ammunition depots and disrupted the supply of foreign-made weapons and logistical support for Ukrainian troops operating in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, the ministry added.
"The Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed five combat aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force this week… two more MiG-29 fighters delivered from Poland, modernized for the use of Western missile weapons, were destroyed during a strike at an airfield in Kulbakino in the Nikolayev Region on Thursday night," the ministry said.
Moreover, Ukraine has lost more than 1,760 servicemen both killed and wounded in the Donetsk direction from September 24 to 29, the ministry stressed.
Over the given period, the Russian armed forces have repelled 12 attacks by the Ukrainian troops in the Krasny Liman direction, eight attacks by in the Zaporozhye direction and four attacks in the South Donetsk direction.
"As a result of the fighting [in the Donetsk direction], the enemy lost more than 1,760 Ukrainian military personnel killed and wounded, 40 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, as well as 70 vehicles. During the counter-battery battle, 13 field artillery guns and two Grad multiple launch rocket systems were hit," the ministry stated.
Ukraine has also lost over 750 military in the South Donetsk direction, over 210 military in the Kupyansk direction, up to 250 military in the Kherson direction, and over 360 military in the Krasny Liman direction, the ministry added.
UK Military Chief: West Underestimated Russia's Defenses
Russian defense lines have become stronger than NATO expected, noted the head of the British Armed Forces Sir Tony Radakin.
According to UK media, this was stated during his trip to Kiev, where the military chief was joined by Defense Secretary Grant Shapps. It was Shapp's first visit to Ukraine after succeeding Ben Wallace. Thus, the two had a chance to meet both President Zelensky and the new Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, to discuss the current situation for the Ukrainian Army.
Admiral Radakin supposed that the expectations from Ukrainian short-term military actions should have been “adjusted” – “after the counteroffensive failed” without noticeable results.
During the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian Army achieved very little success, UK media claimed. Russian minefields are hampering Kiev’s attempts to use Western tanks and armored vehicles, while Ukrainian sappers are forced to defuse mines manually.
The chief also added that a wide variety of equipment in service – both Western and Soviet – and insufficient training of military personnel, retard the Ukrainian Army. He highlighted that Ukrainian troops are not professional soldiers, but a civilian army. That is why it is hard for them to overcome Russian defense line.
Earlier, the BBC summed up that Ukraine’s counteroffensive attempt was close to its end without making the breakthroughs.
In turn, US Army chief General Mark Milley told the BBC that the Ukrainian Army has “probably about 30 to 45 days' worth of fighting weather” for its counteroffensive, but they are “plugging away with steady progress.”
Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in early June. In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that it had completely failed.
Power supply in borderline Bryansk Region disrupted by Ukrainian attack
A power outage occurred in the village of Pogar in the borderline Bryansk Region following an attack by Ukrainian troops, regional Governor Alexander Bogomaz said.
"As a result of an attack by Ukrainian terrorists, the power supply was disrupted in the village of Pogar. There are no casualties," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
The governor added that the emergency services were working on site.
Watch Russian Forces Blast Ukrainian Armored Vehicles in Special Op
Russia's Battlegroup Yug hammers positions and armored vehicles of Ukraine’s 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade using air and artillery strikes.
The Russian Defense Ministry has published a clip showing Russian artillery and drones destroying Ukrainian strongholds and a Polish-made AHS Krab howitzer near the settlement of Seversk in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
The self-propelled artillery mounts designed in Poland use 155mm shells, having an operational range of 400km and a maximum speed of 60 km/h on the road and 30 km/h off road. However, the weapons are easy targets for Russian drones.
Menteri Koordinator Bidang Perekonomian, Airlangga Hartarto ditunjuk sebagai Ketua Satgas Peningkatan Ekspor Nasional/Ist
Tugas baru diemban Menteri Koordinator Bidang Perekonomian, Airlangga Hartarto, yakni sebagai Ketua Satuan Tugas (Satgas) Peningkatan Ekspor Nasional.
Airlangga ditunjuk langsung oleh Presiden Joko Widodo berdasarkan Keputusan Presiden (Keppres) 24/2023 yang ditandatangani pada Rabu, 20/09/2023.
Airlangga akan dibantu Wakil Ketua I, Zulkifli Hasan, dan Wakil Ketua II Sri Mulyani.
Penerbitan Keppres ini sebagai langkah antisipatif terhadap dinamika ekonomi dan geopolitik global yang diprediksi memberi pengaruh pada pertumbuhan ekonomi nasional, termasuk sektor ekspor.
Terhitung Agustus 2023, kinerja ekspor nasional memang menurun hingga di angka 22 miliar dolar AS atau terkontraksi sekitar 21,21 persen dibanding periode yang sama tahun 2022.
Jika ditotal sejak periode Januari 2023 hingga Agustus 2023, nilai ekspor nasional sebesar 171,52 miliar dolar AS.
Nantinya, Ketua Umum DPP Partai Golkar ini akan menjadi ujung tombak dalam merumuskan kebijakan peningkatan ekspor yang adaptif dan responsif.
Dalam Keppres 24/2023, Airlangga dan jajaran tim pengarah bertugas mengoordinasikan kementerian/lembaga terkait, pemerintah daerah, dan pelaku usaha/asosiasi dalam rangka peningkatan ekspor.
Berikut ini susunan lengkap Tim Pengarah Satgas Peningkatan Ekspor Nasional:
Ketua
Menteri Koordinator Bidang Perekonomian
Wakil Ketua I
Menteri Perdagangan
Wakil Ketua II
Menteri Keuangan
Anggota
Menteri Sekretaris Negara
Menteri Dalam Negeri
Menteri Perindustrian
Menteri Koperasi dan Usaha Kecil dan Menengah
Menteri Luar Negeri
Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan
Menteri Investasi/Kepala Badan Koordinasi Penanaman Modal
Menteri Pertanian
Menteri Kelautan dan Perikanan
Menteri Badan Usaha Milik Negara
Sekretaris Kabinet
Ketua Umum Kamar Dagang dan Industri Indonesia (Kadin).
