Indonesia Day in MGIMO

On September 25 MGIMO hosted the Indonesia Day jointly organized by the ASEAN Centre and the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Moscow. The event was dedicated to the 75^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Russia and Indonesia. This year Dr. Sofia Alisjahbana, Rector of the Universitas Bakrie, was a distinguished guest.

Dr. Anatoly Torkunov, MGIMO Rector, welcomed the guests. He noted that University is proud for its Indonesia Studies and the growing number of Indonesian representatives among MGIMO foreign students. H.E. Jose Antonio Morato Tavares, Ambassador of Indonesia to Russia, H.E. Sergey Tolchenov, Ambassador of Russia to Indonesia, Dr. Andrey Baykov, MGIMO Vice-Rector for Research Affairs and Dr. Sofia Alisjahbana, Rector of the Universitas Bakrie also delivered welcoming remarks. Director of the ASEAN Centre Dr. Ekaterina Koldunova moderated the event.

The opening ceremony ended up with the exchange of the MoUs between MGIMO and the Universitas Bakrie. Both sides intend to deepen cooperation, promote academic and students exchange and implement joint research projects.

Within the Indonesia Day Rector of the Universitas Bakrie Dr. Sofia Alisjahbana delivered a lecture devoted to the role of educational diplomacy in strengthening cooperation between Indonesia and Russia. During her visit to MGIMO the Rector visited the Museum of Rare Books and MGIMO History Museum.

For the first time the academic conference “Indonesia in the Multipolar World: Regional Leadership, Global Integration and Strategic Partnerships” included sessions with participation of students and young researchers. Among the speakers were students from leading Russian universities – MGIMO, Institute of Asian and African Studies of Moscow State University, Diplomatic Academy and Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

The programme also featured the book presentation “Indonesia: A Literary Lexicon” by Victor Pogadaev and Vilen Sikorsky. This book publication became possible thanks to the support of the Friendship Society with Indonesia. The conference speakers and event’s guests received copies of the book thanks to the Friendship Society with Indonesia.

The conference was attended by Russian and Indonesia researchers who discussed Indonesia’s foreign policy, its accession to BRICS, Russia-Indonesia bilateral relations and economic development. Among the speakers were representatives of Higher School of Economics, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the University of Indonesia.

The Indonesia Day ended up with a culture evening prepared by the dance studio “Kirana Nusantara Dance”, the Gamelan Dadali Moscow, MGIMO Russian students, majoring in Indonesian language studies and Indonesian students.

On the occasion of the 75^th anniversary of diplomatic relations an exhibition of photos and archive documents devoted to the history of Russia-Indonesia relations was presented at the Atrium Hall. The ASEAN Centre expresses its gratitude to the Department of History and Records, the MFA of Russia for providing the material for the exhibition.