On Friday, June 28, 2013, the Ambassador of Indonesia to Japan, H.E. Muhammad Lutfi, visited APU and delivered a special lecture under the title of “Indonesia: The Next World’s Economy” before attending the Indonesian Week Grand Show, the finale event of the Indonesian Multicultural Week for 2013.
During his presentation Ambassador Lutfi introduced some of the features of Indonesia including its enormous geographic size and cultural diversity, as well as its current economic situation and the nation’s future outlook. “We have 17,000 islands and 300 different languages. As a nation we have enormous potential and are predicted to become the fourth biggest economy in the world by 2050. But we also face many challenges”.
In terms of Indonesia’s future place in the global economy, Ambassador Lutfi commented that “Thanks to a strict policy that ensures governments are restricted to a 3% maximum permissible budget deficit, our books are in good order and our foreign debt ratio is only 23%, much less than European countries or the USA. Combined with other factors including a rapidly expanding middle class and strong population growth, Indonesia is attracting enormous attention as a future driver of economic growth in the region”.
Following his presentation the Ambassador attended the Indonesian Week Grand Show and enjoyed an evening of Indonesian Cultural performances by APU students. After the show, Ambassador Lufti made the following comment: “The show was mesmerizing; they have made Indonesia very proud! This kind of cooperation between Indonesian and other students – both from Japan and other nations – is a very effective way to promote cross-cultural understanding and it is something that they will remember forever”.
APU currently hosts 180 students from Indonesian including 24 graduate students, who play an enormous role in the academic and extracurricular activities on campus. We look forward to even stronger ties with Indonesia in the future.
