VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Havana City in Cuba and Ambon City in Indonesia are exploring "sister-city cooperation" in the fields of music and education. This was stated by Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Cuba, Nana Juliana in a webinar of the Global Center of Excellence and International Cooperation for Creative Economy, which was facilitated by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia on Monday (21/6). He said that Indonesia and Cuba have established bilateral relations for 60 years. Both countries support each other in every international activity.

Diplomatic relations of both countries began on January 22nd, 1960, marked by the visit of the first president of Indonesia, Soekarno to Havana. President Soekarno was also a close friend of Prime Minister Fidel Castro. Thus, Soekarno's arrival to Cuba became the beginning of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Cuba.

During the webinar on Monday, Cuban Ambassador to Indonesia, Tania Velazquez welcomed the planned cooperation with Ambon City. Ambon and Havana were awarded by UNESCO as music and creative cities respectively in October 2019. This collaboration will strengthen Indonesia's diplomacy and encourage connectivity and both countries’ people-to-people contacts.

Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, who officially opened the webinar, said that the collaboration between Havana and Ambon is an example of cooperation in the music industry in the future. The webinar was held coinciding with the commemoration of International Music Day 21st of June. According to Minister Sandiaga Uno, this is a momentum to celebrate one of the greatest human creations in the world, namely music. Indonesian music would be less lively without Ambon; so would Cuba without Havana!