The Indonesian Embassy in Korea hosted the foreign diplomatic community, business executives with ties in the Southeast Asian country and local media on April 4 to more fully introduce its country and its top diplomatic representative here.

The country went through rapid changes over the past decade, including sweeping democratic reforms and the settlement of a decades-old dispute in East Timor.

“Although our transition to democracy in the 1990s and early 2000s was a bit chaotic, nevertheless we now enjoy democracy, press freedom and political stability,” said Indonesian Ambassador to Korea John Prasetio.

Indonesia’s $1 trillion economy is about the size of Korea’s. Some 30,000 Indonesians are working and studying here and twice as many Koreans call the sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago home.

“In the next few years we will execute our strategy for more political, social and economic reform with our vision to industrialize our nation by 2025,” he said.

Prasetio welcomed the guests in a casual gathering organized by the embassy at Lotte Hotel in Seoul. He is relatively new to Korea, having arrived in December last year, and the event was to introduce himself to the Korean business community and the local media.

The embassy has a full calendar for this year, including a celebration of the 40th anniversary of bilateral ties and business forum on Sept. 25-26.

(ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)