Envoy: Indonesia keen on reinforcing ties with Iran

Tehran, April 22, IRNA – Indonesia Ambassador to Tehran Octavino Alimudin said on Monday that Indonesia honors commitment to implement the agreements already signed with Iran to reinforce relations. 'During the last couple of years, the relations between Iran and Indonesia have become very close so we had the visit of the President Joko Widodo to Iran in 2016, we want to follow up all the commitments that we signed during that meeting in the near future,' Alimudin said in an exclusive interview with IRNA. The ambassador said that Iran and Indonesia conduct regular consultations at foreign ministers' level, adding, 'Consultations on international issues are underway amid preparatory works in Jakarta to form Indonesian new cabinet.' 'The incumbent Indonesia Foreign Minister Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi is really having a very good contact with Dr. Javad Zarif so we will continue this close connection not only in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but also in other ministries as well,' the ambassador said. Pointing to the recent meetings held on the sidelines of the 140th Ordinary General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Qatar, the Indonesian senior diplomat said, 'Relations would be expanded with the new government taking office.' Alimudin elaborated on the new Indonesian government's plan to portray a peaceful image of Islam and Iran in the world saying 'we would like to show the similarity with the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the world that Islam is for all people.' 'That would be the same no matter who will be the president, he will promote the value of Islam as moderate and as tolerant as possible and we also continue our contacts,' he said. 'So whoever the president and the government, we are still pursuing our policies to make the peaceful way of living between the religious communities,' he said referring to the recent visit made by Vice President for women and family affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar to Indonesia during which scholars discussed moderate Islam. Evaluating the future of cultural ties with Iran, he said 'we introduce and invite Iranian students to study in Indonesia, because I know exactly there is still limited information about study opportunities in Indonesia.' He added, 'we have cultural scholarship, non-Islamic culture scholarship, and also Islamic education scholarship some of these three schemes of scholarship have been forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.' 'Now we are selecting the Iranian students who will be granted the cultural scholarship in August 2019,' Alimudin said, expressing hope for increase in the number of Iranian students applying for Indonesian scholarship. Elsewhere in his remarks, he referred to opening 'Indonesia Corner' in University of Islamic Denominations on March 10 and also in Ferdowsi University of Mashad, saying 'we will contact with the universities and will bring many scholars here.' The event was held in presence of the Indonesian ambassador to Iran Octavino Alimudin, Turkish attaché, Chancellor of University of Islamic Denominations Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari, Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, Director of Tehran-based Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) as well as some Indonesian students. It is worth noting that Indonesia corner has so far been established in Tehran University, Ferdowsi University of Mashad and University of Islamic Denominations. 'And later in April we will have the meeting between the ministry of research and higher education and we may also send our high-ranking officials to Tehran so they will talk about the cooperation on education not only at bilateral level but at the level of eight Islamic developing states (D8),' he said. Earlier on Sunday, deputy for Minister of Science and Research for international affairs Hossein Salar Amoli said the D-8 International University will be inaugurated in Abu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan province, western Iran next week. Commenting on the new Indonesian president's eagerness to promote tourism cooperation with Iran, Alimudin said, 'with regard to tourism we have the MoU on tourism and we are trying to revise it so we hope that we would finalize the revise MoU on tourism cooperation.' He suggested vice-president and head of the ICHTO (Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran) Ali Asghar Munesan to meet the minister of tourism of Indonesia and sign MoU, saying 'we are very optimistic that the contact between the tourism sector and agencies may also increase.' He raised the issue of setting up direct flights to Indonesia, saying, 'now we are trying to do our best to connect the Iranian airlines which fly to Kuala Lumpur they could have a short stay in Kuala Lumpur before they go to Jakarta, Indonesia.' 'We also invite the Iranian authorities especially in tourism sector to discuss some possibilities,' he noted. Describing Indonesia as number one country as regard Halal tourism, he offered developing ties with Iran in this field. Regarding the Indonesia government plan to maintain business with Iran based on national currencies, Alimudin said 'like in Iran, Indonesia has some volatilities influenced by global financial system so we need to stabilize our financial system first.' 'We try to finalize the preferential tariff agreement which we may expect that in the near future they may become finalized and then we may also see development in the oil sector,' he reiterated. 'We are trying to resume our latest negotiations with regard to oil refineries or investment in oil industries,' he said referring to the negative influence of US withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). On May 8, 2018, Trump withdrew from the JCPOA, which was condemned by other parties to the 2015 agreement. In response to a question whether US hostile measures in the region are following Islamophobia and Iranophobia, he said 'for Indonesia being now as non-permanent member of the security council we are pursuing the same goal with the Islamic Republic of Iran. First we never accept the occupation of Golan Heights, we never accept moving of the capital of the Zionist regime to Jerusalem [Holy Quds].' 'We try to say that the issue of Palestine is a priority and other issues may be prioritized but we do not want to be distracted by other issues we want to resolve the Palestinian issues before any other issue in the Middle East,' Alimudin added. Alluding to the trips made by Indonesian diplomats and officials to various parts of Iran during the last Iranian year [ended on March 20], he said 'we visited Kerman Province very often because in this area we can follow up discussion under the joint commission of the economic entry.' He added: 'We also sent our officials to talk about Halal tourism in Tabriz and Hamedan.' He went on to say 'all Iranian cities are important because they have their own potentials and I bring our officials and businessmen from Indonesia to those places.' 'The Mayor of Bengkulu the city which has many similarities with Iran visited Sirjan, Bandar Abbas and also Kerman and we hope that in the near future there could be some agreements to be signed between two cities,' Alimudin noted. Referring to the key points of the 2019 elections in Indonesia, he said it is the biggest one in the history of Indonesia. 'More than 190 million people cast their votes in their provinces and villages.' 'When we talk about the elections it is similar to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Indonesia is a democratic country and we have elections every five years and this is important for 2019 because this is the first time for Indonesia to have elections not only for president but also for legislative members and the legislative members may also be from the provincial level and the municipality level and we also vote for our senators,' he added. 'So we have 265 Indonesian people who live in Iran and eligible to vote and almost 96% of them came and cast their votes.' Indonesia ambassador extended his sincere sympathy with Iranians over the calamities they experienced in the recent deadly floods, saying due to the fact that flash floods happen almost every month in Indonesia, the country is to offer contingency plans to mitigate these calamities. Flash floods caused by unprecedented heavy rain across Iran claimed the lives of at least 80 people and displaced thousands more. Due to the disaster, numerous buildings and infrastructures, including roads and bridges, in rural and urban areas were destroyed or damaged. Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish