East Asia-Latin American Countries To Boost Tourism Coop

Nusa Dua, Bali, June 14 (Antara) - East Asia and Latin American countries agree to boost cooperation in tourism and education sector, Director General for America and Europe Affairs from Indonesian Foreign Ministry Dian Triaansyah Djani said. Dian made the remarks here on Friday following the 6th Foreign Ministers Meeting of the East Asia and Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) that took place here from June 13 to 14. "The ministers signed the Uluwatu Declaration today where (among points put in the declaration) they agree that cooperation in tourism and education is important to promote more people to people contact between East Asia and Latin America. In the future both regions want to have more exchange of students, think tanks, researchers and businessmen in tourism sector," he said. He took example of Indonesia which has signed a free-visa agreement for diplomatic-passport holders with three Latin American countries namely Uruguay, Colombia and Venezuela. The agreement, he said, is expected to ease off the flow of people from Indonesia to the three countries and vice versa. Earlier Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said, countries in East Asia and Latin America have respectively enjoyed positive economic growth. Countries from both regions have also gained the benefit in terms of one-on-one bilateral relation. Considering such positive development, he called on the enhancement of bi-regional cooperation between East Asia and Latin American countries. "Each of the region has experienced positive economic growth during the past years. If combined, both regions contribute to 30 percent of world`s GDP. However this development is not yet used in a maximum way due to connectivity issue such as the minimum direct flight between East Asia and Latin American countries and the lack of awareness among people from the two regions," said the minister. Various ideas being uttered to tackle the connectivity challenge. One of the ideas is to implement network between universities in East Asian and Latin American countries in order to boost relations between the two regions. "There is still a lack of knowledge about East Asian countries among some Latin American and vice versa. This situation hampers cooperation between the two region. Cooperation among universities allows us to exchange information about respective countries in either East Asia or Latin America to young generations. This effort will narrow the gap of knowledge problem in the future," Brazil`s Undersecretary -General for Political Affairs from the Mnistry of External Relations Maria Edileuza Fontenele Reis said. She argued both Latin America and East Asia are two regions with very fast growth and contribute to 40 percent of world`s population. Yet more needs to be done to promote cooperation between the two. Indonesia and Colombia are co-host of the 6th Foreign Ministers Meeting of Forum for East Asia and Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) held in Nusa Dua, Bali, starting June 13 to14. The meeting aims to establish mutual understanding, political dialogue and increase friendly cooperation between countries in the two regions. According to information from Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry about 26 ministers or vice ministers out of total 36 member countries of FEALAC attended the meeting. Apart from ministers, FEALAC meeting in Bali is also participated in by representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). FEALAC was established in 1999 as an informal forum to link Asian and Latin American countries. As the only forum bridging the two regions, FEALAC has recently developed its membership to include 36 countries namely Indonesia, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Equador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, peru, Dominican republic, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.