VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo and Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena in their meeting, in addition to discussing economic cooperation, also discussed the development of capacity building cooperation between the two countries. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who accompanied President Joko Widodo in Colombo, said on Wednesday, January 24^th that at the meeting of the two heads of state, President Maithripala Sirisena hoped that Indonesia could increase the quota of Sri Lankan students to get education at the Institute of Resilience National Indonesia. Sri Lanka also hopes that Indonesia will participate in the development of education, especially in terms of teacher empowerment.

“So far Indonesia has given some capacity building to Sri Lanka. In the meeting, some of the things presented by the President of Sri Lanka are among others expecting that the number of students of Lemhanas from Sri Lanka can be improved. In this case the President of the Republic of Indonesia has responded that he+ will convey this to the Governor of Lemhanas and the President agrees that the number of students from Sri Lanka for Lemhanas will be increased. Secondly, there is a request from Sri Lanka for teacher empowerment and then tourist officers, so the officials in charge of this tourism sector also want to be co-operated in the form of capacity building as well as enhancement of cooperation in the field of education, and the President also respond positively to the request,” Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

Meanwhile, related to the architecture of the region, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi conveyed, President Joko Widodo invited Sri Lanka to actively promote cooperation within the context of the Association of Indian Ocean Rim Association for IORA. This, according to Minister Retno, received a positive response from Sri Lankan President Maihripala Sirisena who conveyed the importance of promoting the Blue Economy cooperation embodied in the Jakarta Declaration and the Plan of Action of the IORA. The minister added that the two countries also agreed to develop the Indo-Pacific region by promoting a transparent and inclusive principle based on the spirit of cooperation, which will result in a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. (Ndy/trs Rezha)