Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Delegations from 20 countries discuss cultural cooperation

Antara News,Tue, July 12 2011

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LombokBarat, West Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - Delegations from 20 countries in Asiaand Europe gathered in Senggigi tourist resort in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara,here on Tuesday discussing efforts to increase cultural cooperation.

Theactivity until Wednesday was part of the preparations for the Asia EuropeMeeting`s (ASEM) Culture Ministers Meeting (CMM) to be held in Yogyakarta in2012.

TheASEM-CMM is held every two years to improve understanding and culturalexchanges among Asian and European countries.

The first ASEM-CMMmeeting was held in Beijing in 2003, the second in Paris in 2005, the third inKuala Lumpur in 2008, the fourth in Poznan on September 9-10 and the fifthlater in Yogyakarta.

Thepreliminary meeting in Senggigi was attended by 14 delegations from Asia andsix from Europe.

The Asiancountries participating in the meeting are Indonesia, Cambodia, China, India,Japan, South Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines andSingapore.

The sixEuropean countries include the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Polandand Denmark.

Delegationsfrom the European Union and Asia Europe Foundation (AEF) would also take partin the 2012 ASEM-CMM meeting.

Thedirector general of America & Europe cooperation of the ministry of foreignaffairs, Retno L.P. Marsudi, said on the sidelines of the meeting that theactivity was directed to a dialogue forum focusing on perspectives of variousinformation and cultural experiences.

"Thereare sharing of information and experiences and aspects of capacity buildingdirecting towards opportunities for cultural cooperation. Concretely they willbe discussed later in bilateral meetings," she said.

As anexample she referred to cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands inpreserving the Istana Dalam Loka (palace) cultural heritage on Sumbawa island.

Such acultural cooperation has also been carried out with Portugal in East NusaTenggara, she said.

Retno saidthe ASEM-CMM meeting in 2012 is expected to be able to produce concretecooperation for the preservation of historical cities in Asia and Europe thatwould give direct benefit to the people in the two continents.

Lombok hasbeen chosen to be the host of the Preparatory Senior Official Meeting becausethe island is one of the region that has a lot of cultural heritages.

In additionto that Indonesia also wishes to promote the region through "Visit LombokSumbawa (VLS) 2012".

She saidIndonesia`s membership in ASEM is very beneficial because through it Indonesiacould conduct cultural diplomacy with ASEM partners and fight for thegovernment`s interest in the field.

"ASEMcan also serve as a forum of information exchange that could facilitatecooperation between Indonesia and Asia and Europe and through the cooperationopportunities may be opened for development of technical cooperation in theform of bilateral or multilateral cooperation," she said.

An expertstaff on multi-cultural affairs of the ministry of culture and tourism, HariUntoro Drajat, meanwhile said efforts to increase cultural cooperation mustremain based on Law Number 11 of 2010 on Cultural Preserve.

Inimplementing the regulation the government would continue to support culturaldevelopment in regions.

"Inessence they are directed to improving cultural preservation so that the formsof cooperation would be discussed along with other Asias and Europeancountries," he said.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

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