Indonesia will join TPP free trade deal

US President Barack Obama delivers remarks after meeting with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Monday.

“President Obama looks forward to charting with President Widodo a new phase for the US-Indonesian partnership”, said a senior USA administration official.

In efforts to prevent the spread of future forest fires, Indonesia’s Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Tuesday that he would encourage lawmakers to impose a ban on companies, which are deliberately adopting “slash-and-burn” clearing practices.

But as raging forest and peatland fires in Indonesia pour huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, the environmental destruction highlights the challenge both leaders face in curbing climate change.

In a joint statement, the leaders affirmed the importance of preserving peat lands amid ongoing wildfires in Indonesia that prompted Joko to cut short his USA visit to return home early.

The haze, which started from forest fires in Indonesia and has blanketed Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and most recently the Philippines, has affected more than 500,000 people and is now has been labelled a crime against humanity.

Information from The Washington Post was included in this story.

“BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 looks relatively benign compared to Indonesia’s 2015 fire crisis … and that was one heck of a spill”, he said.

“He should stay here (in Indonesia) and handle the haze”, Yusril said.

The government has chose to send ships to haze-affected provinces to evacuate victims, especially children and women, if necessary, with two warships deployed to Kalimantan on Friday and another carrying medical workers and health equipment expected Saturday.

Thousands of Indonesians are suffering from respiratory diseases because of the haze, which has also caused school closures and flight disruptions. He also brought several Indonesian tech startup leaders in his delegation.

The number of fires as well as the greenhouse gas emissions from those blazes have now surpassed 2006. The effort to put out the fire that we are doing will not last long. “It has to be acknowledged that Indonesia is facing a few serious challenges relating to corruption, chaos and lack of capacity”, he said.