House Secretary General Indra Iskandar in a coordination meeting to discuss the handling mechanism during arrival and departure of the 144^th IPU Delegation. Photo: Jaka/nvl

House Secretary General Indra Iskandar, accompanied by several officials of Secretariat General of the Indonesian House of Representatives held a coordination meeting with the Executive General Manager of Soekarno-Hatta (Soetta) Airport Agus Haryadi, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Airport Security Authority, regarding the mechanism for handling the arrival and return of the 144th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly delegation on 20-24 March 2022, in Nusa Dua, Bali.

"I think we've all be informed that the government is planning on lifting the quarantine policy for foreign travellers in Bali Province. With this development, we have also suggested the IPU delegates from around the world to use direct international flights to Ngurah Rai Airport. However, currently the number of incoming flights there is still limited, so it is quite possible that many of them will have a transfer in Jakarta," said Iskandar at Soetta Airport, Wednesday (2/3/2022).

In the meeting, Iskandar estimated that around 1.000 to 1.500 participants will join the IPU Assembly in Nusa Dua, Bali. "The last meeting in Madrid in November was attended by 1.200 people, consisting of parliamentary leaders and other delegates from 179 countries. As of last night, delegates from 87 countries have confirmed their plan to attend. I'm sharing this with you in anticipation of the delegate's handling, especially in dealing with the implementation of health protocols that ensures that traveling from their respective countries to Bali will not be too complicated," he explained.

Iskandar mentioned that several airlines have resumed their operations at Bali Airport, including national airlines. Nevertheless, he said that several international flights have yet to confirm their return to Bali, calling for preventive measures to anticipate the limited direct flights and consequential connecting flights through Jakarta. 

"This is what we need to focus on, and I would like to seek your assistance in making sure that the delegates can have a seamless transfer with all the protocols in place in Jakarta. Our meeting today is also aimed at collecting further information and observing the delegation handling mechanism upon arrival at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport," Iskandar added.

Some of the points noted from the discussion were the protocol arrangement and handling for both VIP and regular delegates. In the meeting, it was clarified that VIP delegates shall include Speakers of Parliament and Speakers of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament. "As you may be well aware, our Speaker of Parliament receives the same treatments as heads of state or presidents, so we need to proceed with care in our arrangement," he asserted.

Other points of discussion in the meeting were the screening and document verification processes, PCR test administration mechanism, the use of holding rooms, and the handling of delegates with a connecting flight to Bali on the same day. "Those with only hours in transfer time must be ready to fly again in a short time, and we certainly have to make sure everything runs smoothly within this few hours," Iskandar asserted.

Moreover, WiFi connection availability that provides easy access and communication for delegates at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport also came up in the discussion. It was followed by talks on the handling of delegates staying at hotel (s) in Jakarta before continuing their flight to Bali. "I also want to touch on the management and SOP for those who tested positive, as well as security arrangements for the delegates," Indra concluded before giving the floor to the counterparts.

Following the House Secretary General's presentation, Executive GM of Soekarno-Hatta Airport Agus Haryadi expressed his full support for the success of the IPU Assembly. "This is, after all, a state event that we have to support wholeheartedly. And we have been involved in similar events numerous times before. The main point of this event is that we're looking at approximately 1.000 to 1.200 potential participants, and we can anticipate that most of them will have a connecting flight through Soekarno-Hatta, since only a small number of airlines currently go to Bali. It means that our focus at Soekarno-Hatta should not be on the 20 to 24 of March, but 3 days prior to that," Haryadi explained. (AGL/dep/sf)