Delegations from 20 countries discuss cultural cooperation

Antara News, Tue, July 12 2011

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

The activity until Wednesday was part of the preparations for the Asia Europe Meeting`s (ASEM) Culture Ministers Meeting (CMM) to be held in Yogyakarta in 2012.

The ASEM-CMM is held every two years to improve understanding and cultural exchanges among Asian and European countries.

The first ASEM-CMM meeting was held in Beijing in 2003, the second in Paris in 2005, the third in Kuala Lumpur in 2008, the fourth in Poznan on September 9-10 and the fifth later in Yogyakarta.

The preliminary meeting in Senggigi was attended by 14 delegations from Asia and six from Europe.

The Asian countries participating in the meeting are Indonesia, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore.

The six European countries include the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Poland and Denmark.

Delegations from the European Union and Asia Europe Foundation (AEF) would also take part in the 2012 ASEM-CMM meeting.

The director general of America & Europe cooperation of the ministry of foreign affairs, Retno L.P. Marsudi, said on the sidelines of the meeting that the activity was directed to a dialogue forum focusing on perspectives of various information and cultural experiences.

"There are sharing of information and experiences and aspects of capacity building directing towards opportunities for cultural cooperation. Concretely they will be discussed later in bilateral meetings," she said.

As an example she referred to cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands in preserving the Istana Dalam Loka (palace) cultural heritage on Sumbawa island.

Such a cultural cooperation has also been carried out with Portugal in East Nusa Tenggara, she said.

Retno said the ASEM-CMM meeting in 2012 is expected to be able to produce concrete cooperation for the preservation of historical cities in Asia and Europe that would give direct benefit to the people in the two continents.

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

In addition to that Indonesia also wishes to promote the region through "Visit Lombok Sumbawa (VLS) 2012".

She said Indonesia`s membership in ASEM is very beneficial because through it Indonesia could conduct cultural diplomacy with ASEM partners and fight for the government`s interest in the field.

"ASEM can also serve as a forum of information exchange that could facilitate cooperation between Indonesia and Asia and Europe and through the cooperation opportunities may be opened for development of technical cooperation in the form of bilateral or multilateral cooperation," she said.

An expert staff on multi-cultural affairs of the ministry of culture and tourism, Hari Untoro Drajat, meanwhile said efforts to increase cultural cooperation must remain based on Law Number 11 of 2010 on Cultural Preserve.

In implementing the regulation the government would continue to support cultural development in regions.

"In essence they are directed to improving cultural preservation so that the forms of cooperation would be discussed along with other Asias and European countries," he said.

Editor: Priyambodo RH