REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU -- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has expressed hope that the issue of haze blanketing several parts of Indonesia will be resolved in less than two weeks, given foreign assistance to fight land and forest fires in the country.

"Both the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs and the Chief of BNPB (the National Disaster Mitigation Board) have set themselves the target of resolving this in two weeks. But, I hope it can be resolved earlier than that," he said while inspecting the handling of land fires at the Rimbo Panjang village in Kampar district, Riau province, on Friday.

The President said the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Luhut B Panjaitan and BNPB Chief, Willem Rampangilei have been in South Sumatra to arrange for the arrival of planes bringing assistance from other countries.

He said several countries; including Malaysia, Singapore, Russia and China, have confirmed a plan to send planes to help fight the land and forest fires.

"In one to two days (the planes) will begin arriving in Indonesia. The planes will then focus on fighting land and forest fires in South Sumatra as the haze is mostly stemming from there," the President said.

Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya had said earlier on Friday that 1.7 million hectares of forests and land has been burnt in the fires so far.

"Fires have burnt around 1.7 million hectares in Sumatra and Kalimantan," she said while accompanying the President during the inspection of firefighting efforts.

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