"UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit Indonesia at the invitation of President Yudhoyono. He will make use of the visit in the context of Indonesia being one of top 10 countries sending troops to the UN peacekeeping missions. We are now in 15th position," Indonesian Permanent Representative to the UN Desra Percaya said here on Saturday.
During his two-day visit, Ban Ki-moon will also meet with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih.
He will also visit Indonesia Peacekeeping and Security Center (IPSC) in Sentul, some 40 km south of Jakarta and deliver his address to the opening of Jakarta International Defence Dialogue.
Desra said the meeting between Ban Ki-moon and Yudhoyono will discuss a number of international and regional issues as well as the effort to strengthen relations between Indonesia and the world body.
They will also discuss the effort to increase the number of Indonesian troops joining UN peacekeeping missions and make IPSC a center of excellence, he said.
"The sending of peacekeeping troops is a manifestation of our active participation in creating global peace and security," he said.
According to data from the Indonesian Permanent Mission to UN in New York, Indonesia sent a total of 1,972 military and police personnel to six different UN peacekeeping missions, including the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), and the United Nations Stabilization Mission In Haiti (UNSTAMIH). (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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