Afghan President To Take Cue From Indonesia In Women's Empowerment

JAKARTA, April 7 (Antara) - Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai expressed keenness to take a cue from Indonesia's policy for strengthening the role of women in various fields. "The Afghan president has sought advice from the vice president (Jusuf Kalla) and the president (Joko Widodo or Jokowi) about how Indonesia, as the largest Muslim populated country, has made the gender issue a part of its mainstream policies," Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi remarked in Jakarta on Thursday. Minister Marsudi accompanied Vice President Jusuf Kalla while paying a courtesy call on President Ahmadzai at a breakfast hosted in his honor. According to Marsudi, President Ahmadzai also sought information from Kalla on the appointment process of nine women in the Working Cabinet of President Jokowi as well as the women legislative members. "The vice president informed him that the high percentage (of appointed women) was not based merely on the women's quota but we are also talking about professionalism and quality. Hence, the appointment was made not merely to meet the quota but also to meet quality," she explained. With regard to technical cooperation for strengthening the role of women, Marsudi emphasized that Indonesia has provided 400 capacity-building training sessions in various fields, including in gender mainstreaming, for Afghan citizens. "Regarding training on 'women and politics,' the discussion on it is still ongoing. However, in the field of women's empowerment in the economic sector, cooperation has been underway," she revealed. Kalla also shared Indonesia's experiences in settling various horizontal conflicts in the country and several issues in the Islamic world. According to Marsudi, the Afghan president is optimistic that Indonesia would provide assistance in his country's peace and reconciliation process as well as in strengthening the economy of Afghanistan. "This is because it is impossible to create peace without economic development, as they are interdependent. The two are interlinked, and consistent efforts should be made to realize both simultaneously," she affirmed. On Wednesday, President Ahmadzai had held a bilateral meeting with President Jokowi and witnessed the signing of five memoranda of understanding (MoUs) in the fields of education, agriculture, statistics, fiscal policy, and public administration reforms. The Indonesian president expressed hope that the agreements signed with Afghanistan would be implemented immediately. "I hope the five MoUs would be immediately implemented," he noted in a joint statement with visiting President Ahmadzai at the Merdeka Palace. While welcoming Ahmadzai at the palace, Jokowi stated that it was an honor for Indonesia to receive the Afghan president and his delegation. "The state visit was the first of its kind to be undertaken by the president of Afghanistan. Moreover, Afghanistan is the first country that recognized Indonesia's sovereignty and played a role in making the Asia-Africa Conference (in Indonesia) in 1955 successful," he noted. He stated that the two countries have enjoyed friendly relations for more than 62 years.