Indonesian foreign minister installs chiefs of new overseas missions

Wednesday, 29 December 2010

ANTARA News Agency

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa here Wednesday installed the chiefs of new Indonesian embassies in eight countries, a consul general in one foreign city and a permanent representative to ASEAN.

"This is a concrete manifestation of Indonesia`s recognition of the importance of international relations at bilateral as well as multilateral levels," Marty said at the installation ceremony at the Foreign Ministry.

With these new appointments, there were now 130 Indonesian envoys in foreign countries, he said and expressed hope the 10 new mission chiefs would each contribute to the strengthening of Indonesia`s relations with the countries and international organizations to which they had been accredited.

The Foreign Ministry had previously sent personnel to nine countries to prepare the opening of the new representative offices and also posted staff for the Indonesian Permanent Representative to ASEAN in Jakarta, Marty said.

"The new envoys are expected to work for closer relations between Indonesia and the countries to which they have been assigned, and contribute to the solution of today`s global problems and the consolidation of democracy," he added.

The Permanent Representative to ASEAN in Jakarta was expected to contribute to the settlement of ASEAN affairs and the alleviation of poverty in the region,he said.

The new eight Indonesian embassies were located in the following capitals : Baku (Azerbeijan), Manama (Bahrain), Maputo (Mozambique), Muscat (Oman), Panama City (Panama), Quito (Ecuador), Sarajevo (Bosnia Herzegovina), and Zagreb (Croatia).

The new consulate general was located in Tawau, Malaysia, and the permanent representative office to ASEAN in Jakarta.

Minister Natalegawa said the opening of the new missions was also intended to expand the government`s capability of providing protection for Indonesian citizens overseas.

"At the same time, the opening of the new diplomatic missions is also aimed at increasing Indonesia`s economic growth. It opens new opportunities for cooperation in the economic and energy sectors," he said.

He also underlined the importance of the role of the media that has made the world a global village. In this age of information openness, he said, it was very important for (a country) to have the capability to analyze information from all sorts of sources.

The Baku ambassadorial post was occupied by Agus Trimartono with charge d`affaires rank, the Maputo post is held by Bagus Hendraning Kobarsyih, Manama (Agus Sanim), Muscat (Abdul Mun`im), Panama City (Johannes Bosco, Quito (Amnal Rachman), Sarajevo (Sutadi Hadiwiyoto), Zagreb (Simson Ginting) and Tawau (Widoratno Rahendra Djaya).(*)