BELITUNG-Another training session on palm oil topic has been held by Training Center of Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to expand the knowledge base of senior diplomats on sustainable palm oil. The Senior Diplomatic Training Course (Sesparlu) Batch 63 was held at the Training Center of PT Austindo Nusantara Jaya Tbk (PT ANJ) in Belitung, Kepulauan Bangka Belitung, 14 to 16 November 2019.

JAKARTA-Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) has set biodiesel Market Price Index (MPI) for period of November 2019 at Rp7,157 per liter, lower Rp201 than previous month at Rp7,358 per liter. The current MPI was weighed down by the decrease of the Crude Palm Oil (CPO) average price.

DENPASAR-Vice President Ma\'ruf Amin has suggested to the national palm oil industry to improve productivity of oil palm plantations and palm oil competitiveness in the global market. The government has launched smallholders\' oil palm plantations replanting program, widely known as PSR, to boost productivity.

JAKARTA- The Indonesian Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) together with Indonesia-Australia Partnership on Food Security in the Red Meat and Cattle Sector (the Partnership) initiated a conference to discuss cattle breeding program in oil palm plantations. The Integrated Cattle & Oil Palm Production (ICOP) Conference 2019 which was held in Jakarta (23/10/2019) provided an interactive forum to discuss the opportunities and challenges around the cattle and oil palm integration, and to encourage further collaboration and investment in promoting profitable cattle and oil-palm integration. "The conference is aimed to feature research conducted by BPPT on cow breeding program in a number of oil palm plantations in Pelalawan, Riau, Indonesia,\` Hammam Riza, Chairman of BPPT, said at JS Luwansa Hotel, Jakarta, Wednesday (23/10/2019). He said, Indonesia imported around 40% of its domestic beef demand.

DENPASAR-the Indonesia Oil Palm Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) colaborated with Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) hosted "Biodiesel Goes to Campus", a gathering to familiarize students with biodiesel, at Udayana University, Denpasar, Bali, Thursday (17/10/2019). The "Biodiesel Visit Bali"-themed event had the presence of several speakers: careteaker of Director General of Oil and Gas of MEMR Djoko Siswanto who delivered a presentation about biodesel as eco-friendly source of fuel and Head of BPDPKS\' Fund Disbursement Unit Division Fajar Wahyudi who delivered a presentation about palm oil contribution to the state revenue. Both speakers told the participants that use of biodiesel has contributed to economic benefits such as government revenues, profits for companies, employment, and raised incomes for smallholders.

JAKARTA-Indonesia\'s crude palm oil (CPO) production rose 14% in January-August 2019 on the back of implementation of mandatory use of B20.

JAKARTA - Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), in collaboration with Indonesian Gastronomy Association (IGA), hosted the National Seminar on Economic Diplomacy: "Gastro-diplomacy to Strengthen the Indonesian Economy\` in Jakarta, Thursday (17/10/2019). Around 250 people participated in the event that provided an opportunity to share knowledge and experience on culinary businesses, especially on Indonesian specialty.

SERDANG BEDAGAI-Thousand talented and non-professional runners enthusiastically took part in Indonesia Oil Palm Marathon Run 2019 in Martebing Village, District of Bangun Bandar, Serdang Bedagai Regency, North Sumatera, Sunday (13/10/2019). There were 2.127 local and overseas participants joined the event, including athletes from Kenya, Japan, Singapore, England, and Germany.

The Government has enacted Finance Minister Regulation No 136/PMK.05/2019 concerning the Third Amendment to Finance Minister Regulation No 81/PMK.05/2018 concerning Tariff of Service by the Indonesia Oil Palm Plantatation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) of Ministry of Finance.

President Joko Widodo, on 7 August 2019, signed Presidential Instruction (Inpres) number 5 year 2019 concerning stopping new permits and improving primary natural forest and peatland governance. The Inpres ordered a permanent moratorium on issuing new licenses to use land designated as primary natural forest and peatland in the area of conservation forests, protected forests, production forests which include limited production forests, fixed production forests, and convertible production forests, as well as areas for other purposes as listed on Indicative Map of Stopping Issuance of New Permits.

JAKARTA-The Government of Indonesia makes it mandatory for cooking oils to be packaged, and stops circulation of bulk cooking oils.

JAKARTA-Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on people to maintain a healthy lifestyle, by consuming cooking oil properly.