The Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, emphasized the importance of the role of the Indonesian diaspora to promote Indonesian tourism and culture.
"Micro, small and medium enterprises, entrepreneurs, workers, and students are expected to be able to promote good stories about Indonesia through their social media," said Sandiaga Uno in a webinar in Jakarta, Friday (13/8).
According to Sandiaga, students are also important assets in development, as well as ambassadors for the nation's future. The Indonesian Student Association in the UK (PPI UK) recognizes this role.
Together with the Indonesian Embassy in London, PPI UK held a virtual discussion forum for ThinkLab Festival 2021 themed 'Reshaping Indonesia-UK Future Collaboration from Local to Global and Beyond', from London, on August 13-14 2021.
"ThinkLab Festival as PPI UK's first initiative in supporting second-track diplomacy, aims to build a network between Indonesian-British stakeholders ranging from government, business, academics, communities to the media," said the Indonesian Ambassador to the UK, Ireland and IMO, Desra Believe.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Mahendra Siregar emphasized that for more than 7 decades of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Britain, the two countries continue to strengthen cooperation to produce benefits that can be felt by the wider community, including in the fields of health, economy, and the environment.
"The Indonesian and British partnerships emphasize the importance of collaboration in shared priority areas, both countries are committed to ensuring equitable and affordable global vaccine access," said Mahendra Siregar.
Cooperation Needs to Overcome the Covid-19 Pandemic
The British Foreign Ministry's Asian affairs minister, Nigel Adams, said that no country can handle the pandemic alone. Therefore, the UK welcomes the joint partnership with Indonesia towards a global recovery from Covid-19.
As a commitment to the cooperation between the two countries in the health sector, Indonesia has received 620,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and 365 oxygen concentrators from the UK in early August 2021.
The British Ambassador to Indonesia, Owen Jenkins, said that Indonesia is an important partner of the UK in achieving global emission reduction targets, in relation to the UK as the host of the UNFCCC COP26 climate conference in Glasgow at the end of 2021.
"We want to have cleaner air, healthier communities, a sustainable economy, and a more stable climate," said Owen Jenkins.
The Head of the Thinklab Committee, Nadhila Renaldi, said that this activity became an annual event and a forum for the real contribution of students to strengthening Indonesia-UK bilateral cooperation.
ThinkLab features more than 30 well-known speakers in various fields, both from Indonesia and the UK. The event, which was held by PPI UK, was supported by the Indonesian Embassy in London and the British Embassy in Jakarta. This virtual event is expected to bridge around 750 stakeholders who are present from the government, business, academics, communities, and media from both countries.
For two days, the festival held 5 public discussions on the topics of education, environment, economy, media and democracy, as well as culture and tourism. Thinklab is also supported by UKICIS (UK-Indonesia Consortium for Interdisciplinary) and the University of Nottingham.
