INDONESIAN LANGUAGE TRAINING COURSE FOR ASEAN+3 JUNIOR FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS The Department of Foreign Affairs is organizing an Indonesian language training course for junior foreign service officers from ASEAN+3 countries under the title: the Promotion of Language Programme for ASEAN+3 Cooperation. The programme is planned to be officially opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. N. Hassan Wirajuda, on 8 August 2005—the ASEAN Day—at 14.00 in Pancasila Building, Department of Foreign Affairs. The training course will be conducted from 9 August to This programme is an implementation of the decision made during the ASEAN+3 Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 4 November 2002, endorsing the recommendations of the East Asia Study Group (EASG) on efforts to strengthen the ASEAN+3 cooperation. As a follow-up, during the ASEAN+3 Summit in Vientiane, 29 November 2004, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, declared Indonesia’s commitment to be the prime mover of one of the recommendations, i.e. the promotion of East Asian Studies, which include an element on the study of ASEAN+3 languages. The programme has three objectives, namely to ensure the proficiency of ASEAN+3 junior foreign service officers in using and communicating in Indonesian language; to enhance their capacity to cooperate among themselves; and to enhance the knowledge of the ASEAN+3 junior foreign service officers of their common cultural norms as well as values and develop a sense of East Asian identity. The practical approach of the language programme, combined with the introduction to political, economic, social and cultural aspects, is expected to enhance mutual understanding among the future leaders of ASEAN+3 which, in turn, will be instrumental in strengthening regional cooperation. |