Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Women Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise said that Indonesia is one of the countries which upholds gender equality.

Speaking at a networking function with the indonesianists in the consulate general of the Republic of Indonesia in Perth, Australia, on Friday (Feb 17) evening, she explains that Indonesian women play significant role in various fields.

Womens contribution in the country can be noticed by the nine women ministers in the cabinet led by President Joko Widodo and many other women who stand as members of the House of Representatives.

In a statement received by ANTARA, Monday, Yembise mentioned some priority programs to strengthen womens empowerment and child protection such as vocational training for women, creating more children-friendly cities, integrated complaints and reporting system, as well as various regulations.

"The main challenge is Indonesias geographical condition which has thousands of islands that requires us to be able to reach out to the remote villages," Yembise noted.

Women empowerment will be also supported through educational cooperation with some Australian institutions, for example by encouraging Indonesian nurses to gain their opportunities to work in Australia.

Such idea has been welcomed by one of the indonesianists, the chairman of Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS), David Hills.

"This kind of networking discussion is very important to synergize program and initiative to strengthen people to people relation between the two countries," he noted.

The networking function is attended by nine non-governmental organizations which have been keen to improve cooperation between Indonesia and Australis such as the Indonesia Institute, Balai Bahasa Indonesia Perth, ACICIS, Australia Indonesia Business Council (AIBC), Westralia Indonesian Language Teachers Association (WILTA), Australia-Indonesia Youth Association (AIYA), Bali Peace Park Association, Bamboo Micro Credit, Indonesia International Initiatives (TIGA-I), as well as representative office of Garuda Indonesia in Perth.

Indonesian consul general in Perth, Ade Padmo Sarwono, asserted the need for those organizations to realize cooperations which have more influential impacts for the people in the two countries.

Two aspects that need to have special attention are improving the learning programs of Bahasa Indonesia in Australia and increasing the number of Australian students to study in Indonesia.

"All these efforts will need full support from the indonesianist organizations," Sarwono noted.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017