VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Indonesia to Venezuela concurrently Trinidad and Tobago, Commonwealth of Dominica, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Grenada and Saint Lucia, Mochammad Luthfie Witto'eng, handed over Credentials to  Governor General of Saint Lucia, Sir Emmanuel Neville Cenac. The handover was held on Monday (19/2) at Government House. In his speech, ambassador Luthfie conveyed President Joko Widodo’s warm regard to the Governor General, Sir Emmanuel Neville Cenac, the government and people of Saint Lucia. In addition, ambassador Luthfie also conveyed that bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Saint Lucia runs smoothly. It is marked with the increase of trade total value in recent years. Besides that, Indonesia and Saint Lucia geographically have similarity as an archipelagic country. It also which makes the two countries have similarity in views on international issues which become concern of the two countries, such as climate change, disaster management and renewable energy sources. The expansion of bilateral relationship between the two countries has been implemented in mutual support efforts on the candidacy of each party in various international organizations and forums. Ambassador Luthfie also conveyed his hope that the relation of the two countries can continue to increase. Meanwhile, Governor General Saint Lucia in his speech conveyed his hope that Indonesia-Saint Lucia bilateral relation which has been established, can increase in various sectors.  Potential cooperation are among others in the field of economy, tourism, education, disaster management and agriculture. The effors to increase the cooperation can be started by an agreement of the two countries in an MoU. The Governor General believed that under ambassador Mochammad Luthfie Witto'eng leadership, bilateral relation of the two countries will continue to increase.

The Indonesian embassy’s participation on Salon des Femmes Chefs d'Entreprise/SEF (Women Entrepreneurs Fair) at Sfax city on February 13-18 attracted the invitees and visitors. In addition to promoting Indonesian tourism and traditional crafts’ products, the Indonesian Embassy in Tunis

also opened a booth of Indonesian typical foods provided by Dharma Wanita Persatuan or Woman Association of the Indonesian embassy in Tunis. Indonesian student association in Tunisia also enlivened the event by performing 3 traditional dances, namely Lenggang Nyai, Maumere and Poco-Poco. The dances which were performed during lunch were able to make the audience amazed. They also danced poco-poco together with the dancers. In his remarks, Charge d'Affaires Ad Interim of the Indonesian Embassy in Tunis conveyed his gratitude to the committee who has invited the Indonesian embassy in Tunis to participate in the event and asserted the participation indicated the wish of Indonesia  to tighten relationships with Tunisia. Hopefully, the existence of the Indonesian embassy in the event can contribute to push economic or cultural cooperation with various parties in Tunisia, including with Regional Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs Sfax.

The Indonesian ambassador in Amman, cooperated with Indonesian Directorate of Human Rights has held dialog with United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) with Indonesian human activist. The dialog was held to explore the potential of Indonesian participation in the campaign of #DignityIsPriceless and financial support for UNRWA. The meeting was opened by Indonesian ambassador to Jordan and Palestine, Andy Rachmianto. On the occasion, the Indonesian ambassador mentioned the importance of funding from UNRWA in efforts to meet the basic and sustainable needs of about 5.3 million Palestinian refugees, financial crisis situation which is faced by UNRWA, and also negative impact on efforts to fulfill the need of Palestinian refugees. Then, he also mentioned human and solidarity diplomacy on Palestine as priority of Indonesian President, and also the importance to create a humanitarian alliance of Indonesiafor Palestine, as shown in handling humanitarian crisis  in other countries , such as Bangladesh and Myanmar. Director of Planning of UNRWA, who is also Chairman of Task Force for Global Emergency Appeal campaign, Mr. Abdi Aynte conveyed several points among others: appreciation on the role of the Indonesian Foreign Affairs’ ministry, especially the Indonesian embassy in Amman, and Indonesian humanitarian activist who have existed for Palestinian refugees. Besides that, the importance to explore potential the sustainable partnership between UNRWA and non-governmental organization of Indonesian humanitarian among others by using memomentum of the upcoming Ramadhan fasting month.The Dialog resulted a number of recommendations which can be explored by the Indonesian government and non-governmental humanitarian organization in supporting global Emergency Appeal of UNRWA campaign which ends in June 2018. Some of them are the need to explore a possibility to hold Palestine Month or Palestine Week to increase people’s understanding on Palestinian refugees’ situation and efforts done by Indonesia