Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: November 8 (EI) – Indonesian Embassy in Ethiopia on Friday stressed the crucial imperative to engage Ethiopia’s academic community in a bid to further deepen public diplomacy among the two countries.
The call was made days after the embassy joined hands with the Hawassa University in unveiling an initiative dubbed “Indonesian Embassy Goes to Campus” Ethiopia series, which envisaged to spur the overall Ethiopia-Indonesia ties by capitalizing on the academic community’s role in promoting socio-cultural and diplomatic ties.
“This program is an effort to engage more civitas academica in diplomacy and promote better and closer bilateral cooperation between Ethiopia and Indonesia,” the Indonesian Embassy in Ethiopia said in a statement sent to the Ethiopian Informer on Friday.
Al Busyra Basnur, Indonesian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Djibouti and the African Union (AU), said during the event that “public diplomacy can start anywhere, and with anyone, campus is one of the best places to start.”
During the event, embassy officials also highlighted various scholarship opportunities that are offered by the Indonesian government to aspiring Ethiopian youth, such as Darmasiswa and Developing Country Cooperation Scholarship.
According to figures from the Indonesian Embassy in Ethiopia, more than 60 Ethiopian students have received scholarship opportunities by the Indonesian government until 2019.
The embassy also on Friday disclosed that it will send Ethiopian students to take part in Bali Democracy Students Conference, slated from December 5 to 6 in Bali, Indonesia. The annual conference is expected to attract close to 150 students from around the world.
Hawassa University Vice President, Dr. Fiseha Getachew, also emphasized during the event the crucial imperative to tap into the great potential of university-to-university cooperation among the two countries.
The Hawassa University has over the years forged closer cooperation with higher education institutions in Indonesia, including the University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology, BINUS University, and Bogor Agricultural University, it wasnoted.
The “Indonesian Embassy goes to Campus” initiative will also next week head to Ethiopia’s Wollo University for a similar cause, it was noted.
