AACC2015, Jakarta – At the Asian African Conference (AAC) Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on Sunday (19/4), a number of foreign ministers in the Pacific region took the opportunity to have bilateral meetings with Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi.

Some of those Foreign Ministers included Ratu Inoke Kabuabola of Fiji and Sato Kilman of Vanuatu.

The two ministers took turn to meet with the Indonesian Foreign Minister at Cendrawasih Room of Jakarta Convention Center( JCC), Jakarta.

According to Ms. Marsudi, at the bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister of Fiji Ratu Inoke Kabuabola, both ministers discussed economic and infrastructure cooperation as well as cooperation in other fields, including world peace.

"We also agreed to promote bilateral cooperation on women empowerment. We will continue our meeting in Fiji in October 2015. Those were the main points of what we discussed earlier," Ms. Marsudi said in a press conference after the meeting.

Meanwhile, Fijian Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kabuabola congratulated and appreciated Indonesia for inviting Fiji to the AACC SOM as an observer state. "We appreciate our meeting in Indonesia. We will have a meeting in Fiji in August 2015," he said. According to him, at the bilateral meeting between Fiji and Indonesia, both countries agreed to boost cooperation. "We have a number of bilateral cooperation with Indonesia," he added

Meanwhile, in the same room, Foreign Minister of Vanuatu Sato Kilman also had a bilateral meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister.

The two ministers discussed issues such as improving and strengthening bilateral cooperation, among other, the opening of the Vanuatu embassy in Indonesia, and the opening of the Indonesian embassy in Vanuatu. "We are pleased that Vanuatu will open its embassy in Indonesia, like other Pacific countries, such as Papua New Guinea, Solomon Island, or Fiji," he said.

He further said that Vanuatu government shared its view concerning measures on how to strengthen ties between Indonesia and Vanuatu. "I said that Indonesia is the Home of Modern Millennium Melanesian. The population of Melanesian in Indonesia is bigger than the population of Melanesia in the Pacific and South Countries combined," he said.

In the meantime, Indonesian Foreign Minister Ms. Marsudi also said to her Vanuatu counterpart that in October 2015, Indonesia is set to host the Melanesian Art Culture, which which will be held in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. "In addition, Indonesia will also participate in the Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture, which will be held in PNG in July 2015," she said. Commenting on the hope expressed by Vanuati Foreign Minister, Retno said that Indonesia would play a more active role with its foreign policy in the Pacific region. "That's what we will do in the future", she said. (Photo: Yudi Rahmat, Editor: Gusti Andry, M. Ersan Pamungkas, Translator: Penni Patmawati)