"Unand is the fifth university to become an ASEAN Study Center..."Padang, West Sumatra (ANTARA News) - The Foreign Ministry has appointed Andalas University (Unand) in West Sumatra as an ASEAN Study Center in the face of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)`s formation in 2015.
"Unand is the fifth university to become an ASEAN Study Center after Gadjah Mada University, Airlangga University, University of Indonesia and Hasanuddin University," Indonesian Ambassador for ASEAN Cooperation Bagus Hapsoro said here on Monday.
The reason why Unand had been appointed one of ASEAN Study Centers was that the people of West Sumatra had many potentials that could be developed, he said.
The potentials included the fact that the people of West Sumatra had a high level of etiquette which would allow them to have close ties with the people of neighboring countries, such as Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, he said.
West Sumatra also had many tourist attractions, such as a clock tower locally known as Jam Gadang and an annual professional road bicycle racing called Tour de Singkarak named after Lake Singkarak, he said.
The tourist attractions had so far attracted more and more ASEAN tourists, he said.
In addition, West Sumatra was also known to the rest of the world for its rendang (meat simmered in spices and coconut milk), he said.
These all served as assets to face the formation of AEC in 2015, he said.
He said the Unand`s ASEAN Study Center would conduct various researches to develop the potentials and serve as social media to bridge the Indonesian people particularly those of West Sumatra and other ASEAN nations.
(Reporting by Hamriadi, editing by Suharto)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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