Social and cultural engagement is paramount in strengthening bilateral relations between South Australia and Indonesia, a Flinders University symposium has heard.

Part of INDOfest 2015, the symposium held on April 10 focused on “Influencing South Australian engagement with Indonesia through soft diplomacy and people to people links”.

The University’s Academic Director of Jembatan, Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto, who opened the symposium with a presentation on ‘Indonesia in 2015: Jokowi, domestic policies and international engagements’, discussed the importance of engaging with Indonesia at both a government and grassroots level and provided a framework for the panel discussions which followed.

“The symposium was a testament of Flinders’ strong commitment to deepening the people-to-people links between Australia and Indonesia through education, culture and arts. With the continuing support coming from various partners and stakeholders in both Adelaide and Indonesia, it is hoped that the Rumah Budaya (House of Culture) will be established at Flinders campus in 2017,” Dr Sulistiyanto said.