Indonesia to host Asia-Pacific anti-money laundering meeting

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia will host the 11th annual meeting and 7th annual technical assistance and training forum of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering on July 7-11.

"The meeting will take place at the Bali International Convention Center, Westin Hotel in Bali, Indonesia," spokesman of the Center for Financial Transaction Reporting and Analysis (PPATK) Natsir Kongah said on Friday.

He said more than 260 officials of financial intelligence units (FIU) from APG member countries and 19 international organizations as well as 6 observers from Asia and the Pacific would take part in the Bali meeting.

They would discuss a wide range of crucial issues related to money laundering and terrorism funding offences, he said.

UNESCO supports planned world ocean conference in Manado

The Jakarta Post

Antara, Manado | Fri, 07/04/2008 6:39 PM 

UNESCO has pledged its support for the World Ocean Conference (WOC) to be held in Manado from May 11 to 15, 2009 as part of efforts to deal with global warming.

"Several member states of UNESCO have expressed their readiness to participate in WOC in Manado, as their response to the threat of environmental and marine degradation," NorthSulawesi Governor Sinyo Sarundajang told the press here on Friday.

Sarundajang attended the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Forum, the 41st Session of the UNESCO Executive Council, in Paris from June 24 to July 1, 2008.

Some 50 countries attending the UNESCO forum expressed their support for the Indonesian government initiative to organize WOC because marine environmental preservation is crucial for the whole world, he said.

The governor and Indonesian Ambassador to UNESCO Aman Wirakartakusumah was asked to present the plans for WOC at the UNESCO meeting.

They also held a meeting with UNESCO World Heritage Center deputy director Kishore Rao to report on what North Sulawesi had done to prepare its Bunaken Marine Park as a world marine biodiversity site.

Indonesian students not so interested in studying in Netherlands

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian students have low interest in pursuing studies in the Netherlands so that they needed to be encouraged further, Marrik Bellen, director of the Dutch Educational Assistance Office (NESO), said here on Thursday.

Bellen said only about 500 Indonesian students go to the Netherlands to pursue further studies with scholarships or through a self-funding mechanism every year.

"We will begin a new central registration system with the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta so that we will know the exact number of Indonesian students who go to the Netherlands for further studies," he said.

He said that compared with Australia and Britain, the Netherlands had not yet become a main destination to Indonesian students due to various reasons.

Bellen said the main reason was that Dutch universities were not being promoted in Indonesia as intensively as British and Australian ones.

He said the aim of Dutch universities in inviting students was not seeking for profit because they adopted a public system financed by the government.

The number of international students in the Netherlands reached 50,000 a year, of which 25,000 come from European countries, 19,500 from non-European nations and about 7,000 exchange program students.

RI among 41 countries applying for inclusion in UNESCO's heritage list

The Jakarta Post 

Antara, Quebec | Wed, 07/02/2008 2:18 PM

Along with 40 other state parties to the World Heritage Convention, Indonesia will present properties to be considered for UNESCO's World Heritage List during this year's session Wednesday hosted by Canada.

Among the 41 states parties are five countries that have no sites inscribed on the list: Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Saudi Arabia and Vanuatu, according UNESCO's website.

The committee will review whether the 30 World Heritage sites inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger are being adequately preserved and may decide to add new sites requiring special attention to the list.

The List in Danger features sites which are threatened by a variety of problems such as natural disasters, pillaging, pollution and poorly managed mass tourism.

Germany's Dresden Elbe Valley will come under particular scrutiny. The Committee will decide whether to keep the property on the World Heritage list or whether the building of a bridge in the heart of the landscape warrants its deletion.

To date, UNESCO's 1972 Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage protects 851 properties of outstanding universal value including 660 cultural, 166 natural and 25 mixed sites in 141 states.

Natural properties submitted for inscription to the World Heritage List this year include the Fabrica Nacional de Cementos S.A. (FANCESA), Cal Orck'O, Sucre, Departamento Chuquisaca

(Bolivia), the Joggins Fossil Cliffs (Canada), Mount Sanqingshan National Park (China), the lagoons of New Caledonia (France), Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Mexico), Socotra Archipelago (Yemen).

Meanwhile, cultural properties submitted for inscription to the list includes Bali (Indonesia), the historical centers of Berat and Gjirokastra (Albania), the Preah Vihear temple (Cambodia), Fujian Tulou (China), the Stari Grad plain (Croatia), Camaguey (Cuba), the river island Majuli (India) and the Armenian monastic ensembles in Iranian Azarbayjan (Islamic Republic of Iran). Others submitted are the triple-arch gate at Dan (Israel), Mijikenda Kaya forests (Kenya), Sulamain-Too mountain (Kyrgyzstan), and the historical cities Melaka and George Town (Malaysia). 

The convention coincides with Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations.