Seminar

There are many opportunities for Eastern European countries, either individually or as the member of the European Union (EU), to deepen and expand mutually beneficial cooperation with countries in Asia. The message was conveyed by Ambassador Arif Havas Oegroseno when he spoke at the conference "The Rise of Asia - A Perspective from Eastern Europe" organized by the Asia Research Centre Poland and the European Institute for Asian Studies in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of Poland to the European Union in the European Parliament, Brussels on December 8, 2011.

More than 900 millions people in the developing countries have been suffering from hunger and malnutrition. In other part of the world, people in the developed countries have been wasting their foods. These contradictionary situations have to be addressed. Global efforts to end hunger and malnutrition must go hand in hand with the efforts to curb food waste. This is the message of Ambassador Arif Havas Oegroseno’s presentation in a one-day-seminar titled “Combating Malnutrition through Sustainable Interventions: EU-ASEAN Relations as a Key Driver” which was held in Brussels on November 8, 2011. Ambassador Oegroseno and the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva were panellists in this prestigious event which was opened by the President of the European Council Hermann van Rompuy (ex-PM of Belgium) and moderated by Prof. Mark Eyskens, ex-PM of Belgium.

In cooperation with the Egmont Institute, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Brussels convened the Expert Roundtable entitled "Indonesia's Fight Against Terrorism". The Head of the Indonesian National Counter Terrorism Agency, Gen. Pol. (Ret) Ansyaad Mbai was the key speaker at the Roundtable that was held at the Chateau du Val Duchesse, Brussels, on 29 June 2011.

Gen. Mbai highlighted that Indonesia's approach towards countering terrorism is the legal approach, meaning that all terrorist acts perpetrators are being processed under due process of law. He also highlighted that the utilization of hard power alone in counter terrorism efforts is not enough. There has got to be sociological approach with the view to eradicate radical ideology. 

Gen Mbai also pointed out that there is no single country that is immune to terrorist threat, and therefore, he was of the view that international cooperation plays an important role on this issue.

According to Ambassador Arif Havas Oegroseno, the visit of the Head of the Indonesian National Counter Terrorism Agency was also to share Indonesia's best practices in counter terrorism with relevant authorities in Europe.

Together with the European Union Commisioner for Trade, H.E. Karel De Gucht, Ambassador Arif Havas Oegroseno presented the report of the study by the EU - Indonesia Vision Group on Trade and Investment Relations in Brussels, 28 June 2011.

The event was co-organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Brussels and the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels-based reknown think-tank. The Seminar was attended by the Director-General for International Cooperation, Ministry of Trade of Indonesia, Mr. Gusmardi Bustami, and  Jacques Pelkmans, member of the Vision Group from the EU Side. The theme of the Seminar was "Invigorating the EU-Indonesia Partnership: Towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement".