FIFTEEN PROSPECTIVE AMBASSADORS VISIT BALI

Denpasar, Dec 12 (ANTARA) - A total of 15 prospective ambassadors of Indonesia who will be posted in a number of foreign countries have been in the island resort of Bali for several days.

"During their visit for several days in Bali, they have met with Deputy Governor Aan Puspayoga for a dialog," Bali provincial administration public relation chief I Nyoman Puasha Aryana said here on Friday.

Nyoman said one of the 15 prospective ambassadors was I Gede Ngurah Swajaya from Buleleng, Bali. Swajaya will be posted in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

During their visit to Bali, they were led by Muhammad Ibnu Said who would be Indonesian ambassador to Tunisia.

According to Nyoman, the 15 would-be ambassadors visited Bali to get the first hand information about the island resort and to promote it in the countries where they would be posted.

Meanwhile, Deputy Governor Puspayoga said the prospective ambassadors had a strategic role in promoting Bali abroad.

"When I was a Denpasar mayor, the Indonesian ambassador to Bulgaria with several businessmen visited Bali to have first hand information about local handicraft industry and then promoted it in Bulgaria," Puspayoga said.

He said the visit resulted in a trade cooperation between Bali and Bulgaria until the present.

Puspayoga said that although Bali has been known by the international community, its tourist promotion abroad should be made continuously.