Doha: Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi made a visit to Doha, Qatar, to fulfill two main agendas. First, in a bilateral context, Foreign Minister Retno held a meeting with the Minister of State for International Cooperation, Lolwah Al-Khater, and the Chairman of Qatar Museums, Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad al-Thani.
Second, Foreign Minister Retno fulfilled a special invitation from the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres regarding Indonesia's presence and contribution to the Meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan, given Indonesia's active role on the Afghanistan issue so far.
The meeting with the Minister of State for International Cooperation Qatar was held at the Islamic Art Museum.
During the meeting, Foreign Minister Retno reaffirmed her commitment to continuing to improve bilateral relations between the two countries, especially in the economic field. He also conducted a compare note related to the Afghanistan issue.
State Minister Lolwah has been given a mandate by the Government of Qatar for the issue of Afghanistan. "We also discussed efforts to continue to promote women's rights in Afghanistan," said Foreign Minister Retno, in a statement received by the media crew, Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
"We agreed to help the Afghan people, especially in two main areas, namely health and education," he continued.
Specifically regarding education, several scholarships will be offered to the people of Afghanistan, especially for women, discussed.
In order to follow up on the International Conference on Afghan Women Education which was held last December in Bali, a similar meeting is planned to be held in Doha in November this year.
Apart from that, Foreign Minister Retno and Minister Lolwah also agreed to continue the Indonesia-Qatar-Afghanistan Trilateral Ulema Dialogue for the second time.
At the end of the meeting, Minister Lolwah took Foreign Minister Retno on a short tour of the Islamic Art Museum to show a special section that exhibited items from Indonesia.
The second meeting in a bilateral context was with the Chair of Qatar Museums, Sheikha Mayassa al-Thani, which was held at the National Museum of Qatar. Sheikha Mayassa is the sister of the Emir of Qatar.
In this meeting, Foreign Minister Retno discussed Indonesia-Qatar cultural cooperation. This year is the Indonesia-Qatar Cultural Year. In this one year, various cultural events are held in both countries.
Apart from promoting cultural cooperation, Qatar also wishes to promote cooperation in the creative economy sector with Indonesia.
"In this regard, Sheikha Mayassa plans to visit Indonesia in the near future. She will visit Indonesia to discuss cultural cooperation and the creative economy," said Foreign Minister Retno.
Invitation to the Secretary General of the United Nations
The second activity is to fulfil Guterres' invitation to attend and contribute to the Meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan.
Apart from Indonesia, the countries invited included the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, India, PEA, Qatar, Turkey, and others. In addition, there were two international organisations present, namely the OIC and the European Union.
The meeting itself consists of three sessions. Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno is scheduled to attend one session. The other two sessions were attended by the Director General of Aspasaf, because Foreign Minister Retno had to return to Jakarta soon to continue preparations for the 42nd ASEAN Summit.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Foreign Minister Retno also held a number of other meetings, including with UNAMA, with the US Special Envoy for Afghanistan, British and Norwegian Special Envoys. "I also met with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar and the Secretary General of the United Nations," said Foreign Minister Retno.
"Apart from that, I also had the opportunity to have a virtual meeting with female Afghan leaders," she continued.
If counted, the total number of meetings that Foreign Minister Retno had in one day on May 1 yesterday was 10 meetings.
In all meetings, Foreign Minister Retno emphasised several points
That it is important for Afghan women's rights to be respected including the right to education and employment.
The world also needs to pay attention to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
In this regard, Indonesia is committed to providing assistance in the health and education sectors.
In the health sector, in response to the polio outbreak in Afghanistan and at the request of local authorities and after consulting with WHO, Indonesia is committed to providing 10 million polio vaccines for the people of Afghanistan.
The preparation process for administering the vaccine is currently underway, both with WHO, UNICEF and BioFarma as the Polio vaccine producer.
Meanwhile in the field of education, Indonesia will provide scholarships/capacity building to young people in Afghanistan, including women. For this year, one of the focuses is empowerment in the economic sector.
"Both with the UN Secretary General and all the countries present, they appreciated the efforts made by Indonesia. Specifically with the UN Secretary General, I also discussed the situation in Myanmar," concluded Foreign Minister Retno. (Kevin Omar Schreiber)
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