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Indonesian Ambassador to France, Monaco, Andorra and UNESCO, Arrmanatha Nasir was awarded the highest honour of the French government, Légion d’Honneur with the title Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur. The award ceremony was held at the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs in Paris on Wednesday (17/11). The honour is also known as the “Quai  d’Orsay”. Information from the Indonesia Embassy in Paris received in Jakarta, Thursday (18/11) stated that Ambassador Arrmanatha Nasir received an award for his contribution/role and action in strengthening the Indonesia-France bilateral relations.

Ambassador Arrmanatha Nasir has contributed a lot in strengthening Indonesia-France politic, social-cultural and economic spheres. In his remarks upon receiving the award, Ambassador Arrmanatha Nasir conveyed that a lot of progress that has been made in Indonesia-France relations, cannot be separated from the success of the two countries to creatively bridge differences in positions and priorities to advance the common interest.

According to Ambassador Arrmanatha Nasir, the Covid-19 pandemic has disturbed people’s activities. In turn, the intensity of cooperation between the two countries has actually increased. This can be seen from the strengthening of various mechanisms of bilateral cooperation agreements, including increased cooperation in the defence industry. There was formation of a maritime dialogue forum to discuss and find solutions to various maritime challenges faced by the two countries, and in the near future, an action plan will also be signed. That’s a roadmap of activities for the next  5 years to strengthen cooperation of the strategic position of both countries.

Besides, the success of Indonesia-France relations is also inseparable from the intensity of people-to-people relations, such as through businesspeople, members of parliament and students. This can be seen from the concern of the businesspeople of the two countries amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Through collaboration with the Covid-19 task force team, some French companies also support efforts to deal with Covid-19 in Indonesia. This award was given at the end of Arrmanatha Nasir's tenure as the Indonesian Ambassador to France before heading to his new assignment as Indonesian Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Indonesian Delegation to the United Nations in New York, United States at the end of this month.