RI, TURKEY SIGN MoU ON EDUCATION COOPERATION

Jakarta, Jan 22 (ANTARA) - National Education Minister Bambang Soedibyo and his Turkish counterpart Huseyin Celik signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as a legal umbrella on cooperation in the field of education here Thursday.

"I hope our meeting will strengthen the relations between the our two countries and hopefully with the MoU, our cooperation will grow even better," Soedibyo said in his speech, adding that Indonesia and Turkey have developed regional powers.
Meanwhile Celik expressed appreciation for the invitation and hospitality accorded to him.
"I am so happy to be here to discuss what we have, what we can do and what we will do. I learn that the biggest portion of Indonesia's budget is for education like in Turkey," Celik said.
Soedibyo said that a technical meeting of a joint working group between the two countries would be held as a follow up to the establishment of cooperation.
Asked about a concrete cooperation, Celik said that Turkey would increase its scholarships in 2009 from five to 20 recipients.
He also said that the scholarship recipients would have to follow a Turkish language cource before studying at universities in Turkey.