2) Pacific Exposition Aims to Boost Trade, Tourism and Cultural Ties
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1) Polish tourist jailed in Indonesia's West Papua files appeal
2:57 pm on 9 May 2019
A Polish tourist in Indonesia jailed for five years after meeting West Papuan rebels has filed an appeal of his sentence.
Jakub Skrzypski was sentenced last Thursday on treason charges for plotting to sell arms to the West Papua Liberation Army.
His lawyer, Latifah Anum Siregar, said she filed an appeal at the Wamena High Court on Wednesday.
She said the appeal also included Mr Skrzpyski's co-defendant Simon Magal, who was given a four-year jail sentence.
Ms Siregar said the public prosecutor has filed a separate appeal, seeking to extend both men's sentences to 10 years.
Rights groups have decried Mr Skrzyspki's sentence as a blow to freedoms in restive Papua, where the Liberation Army is waging a bloody war with the Indonesian state.
Mr Skrzypski said last week there were issues with translations in the trial and the presenting of possessions that weren't his as evidence.
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2) Pacific Exposition Aims to Boost Trade, Tourism and Cultural Ties
BY : NUR YASMIN
MAY 07, 2019
Jakarta. The government has initiated the Pacific Exposition forum and exhibition to boost trade, tourism and cultural exchanges between countries in the region, an official said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The inaugural event, which forms part of a trilateral cooperation between Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, will take place in Auckland on July 11-14.
Countries invited to participate include Fiji, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, the Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Samoa, the Marshall Islands and Papua-New Guinea.
"It's about time we increase our presence in the Pacific, because we are also part of the region," Tantowi Yahya, Indonesia's ambassador to New Zealand, told journalists in Jakarta.
He said the event is complementary to previous diplomatic initiatives between Pacific nations, such as the High-Level Dialogue on Indo-Pacific Cooperation, held on March 20 and the Indonesia-South Pacific Forum on March 21.
The Pacific Exposition will begin with a tourism forum on July 11, followed by trade and cultural forums.
"We will talk about integrating South Pacific countries into one huge tourism destination," Tantowi added.
The trade forum is expected to provide investors and the business community in the region with an opportunity to exchange information and sign new deals.
Indonesia, as an initiator of the agenda, seeks to attract neighboring Pacific countries to tap the vast market presented by the archipelago, while tightening economic cooperation.
Indonesia will send five representatives – from West Papua, Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara – to participate in the event, as they share ethnic links with the peoples of other Pacific countries.
Pacific countries are renowned for their agricultural products and tourism destinations.
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