REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia is committed to providing assistance of more than 110 billion rupiah or US$7 Million to support Palestine. The assistance was ratified by the signing of an MoU between related parties witnessed by the two Foreign Ministers.

"This is a concrete contribution from a united Indonesia, from the community as well as the government, to Palestine," Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi said, during a joint press statement with the Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad al-Maliki, after the first bilateral consultations between the two countries, in Jakarta on Tuesday.

As part of the total assistance, Indonesia will significantly increase its contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from US$200 thousand to US$2 Million for the period of 2019-2020.

In the meantime the Indonesian people's aid to Palestine reached a value of 2.92 Million dollars and 2 thousand tons of rice. One of the aid supports was given by the Indonesian philantropist Tahir Foundation in the sum of approx. 1,3 Million US$ for UNRWA.

The National Zakat Agency (Baznas) will also give financial aid assistance to UNRWA and the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization for Palestinian Refugees. The MUI (Council of Indonesian Ulemas) is currently in the process of discussing plans to build an Indonesian hospital in Hebron.

The total assistance will also include the field of capacity building. The Indonesian government will contribute the sum of USD 2 Million over the next three years for cooperation in capacity building, in the framework of CEAPAD (Cooperation among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development).

"This capacity building is hoped to have a direct impact on the welfare of Palestinians and for the independence of a free Palestine," the Indonesian Foreign Minister remarked.

In 2019, Indonesia will train 90 officers and Palestinian citizens in the field of women's empowerment, good governance, the cultivation of tropical fruits, the field of drug and food supervision and flight training with Commercial Pilot License (CPL) certificates in Indonesian flight schools.

The Forum of Rectors and Unpad (Padjajaran University) will also provide scholarships for Palestinian students as part of the efforts to prepare the young Palestinian generation.

Since 2008, Indonesia has trained 1,887 Palestinian officers and citizens covering 171 fields of expertise, including in the fields of government, law enforcement, drug and food control, and various other technical fields.

The first RI-Palestine Bilateral Consultation was led by the Indonesian Foreign Minister and the Palestinian Foreign Minister to become a forum to translate the good relations between the two countries into concrete cooperation and real assistance.

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The two Foreign Ministers also signed a memorandum of understanding on the Establishment of a Joint Commission which will be a discussion forum to enhance bilateral cooperation in the technical field. During the meeting, the two Foreign Ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation in the trade sector, in particular among business communities through the establishment of the Indonesia-Palestine business Council.

The Palestinian Foreign Minister expressed his appreciation for Indonesia's free tariff policy for Palestinian products since 2018 considering that the Trade sector is one of the most important factors for an independent free Palestinian. The Indonesia-Palestine First Bilateral Consultation is one of the main agenda points in the series of the Solidarity Week for Palestine from October 13-17 2018.

During the series of activities, the Indonesian Foreign Minister and the Palestinian Foreign Minister inaugurated Palestine Walk in Bandung and Walk for Peace and Humanity. The Palestinian Foreign Minister also paid a courtesy visit to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, visited the drug and food supervision training program of the Food and Drugs Supervisory Agency (BPOM), and gave public lectures in Bandung and Jakarta.

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