According to presidential spokesperson for international affairs Tengku Faizasyah Indonesia and Bangladesh held a bilateral meeting to synchronize their perceptions of democracy on Wednesday (Dec 7) before the opening of Bali Democracy Forum IV.
"The bilateral meeting was held to equalize Indonesia`s and Bangladesh`s perceptions as the two countries were to act as the Bali Democracy Forum 2011`s co-chairs-, especially about this year`s theme," said Faizasyah here before the event`s opening ceremony.
Faizasyah said the Bali Democracy Forum aimed not to change democracy values but more to giving examples especially for Indonesia in promoting democracy widely.
"The main focus is to provide enough opportunities for democracy, home grown democracy is considered to be the most appropriate in the respective countries," Faizasyah said.
This year`s forum was to focus on efforts towards enhanced people`s participation by way of responding to democratic voices and relevant issues involved in the process.
Indonesia launched the first Bali Democracy Forum in 2008 in Bali with goals and objectives to place democracy as a strategic agenda in regional discourses in Asia, to forge closer understanding and cooperation among countries participating in the Bali Democracy Forum.
For this year`s event, Indonesia had invited Bangladesh to be the BDF`s co-chair after previous BDFs had Japan, Australia and South Korea as co-chairs.
Some 15 head of state/government were expected to attend the event as well as delegations from 54 countries in the Asia Pacific region including Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Qatar, Sri Lanka, and others.
As many as 66 countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, England, Kenya, Nigeria as well as representatives of the European Union and international organizations were scheduled to attend as observers. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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