Northwestern hosts delegation from the Republic of Indonesia

Last week, Northwestern welcomed a delegation from Indonesia who met with faculty from the Evanston and Chicago campuses and university leadership, including President Morton Schapiro, Vice President for International Relations Dévora Grynspan, and Vice President for Research Milan Mrksich.

The delegation, led by Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, included members of the Indonesian government, the Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia, together with other ranking members of the consulate in Chicago, and several business leaders.

The visit ended with a lecture by Minister Pandjaitan, who also served as Deputy Chairman of the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery and successfully maneuvered the country through the pandemic and developed strategies for economic recovery in the months afterward.

In his presentation, Pandjaitan discussed his three major goals for the future of Indonesia:

1. Moving Indonesia to become a developed country by 2045
2. Creating new policies to address the issue of climate change
3. Promoting cooperation with other countries at the G20 to address specific challenges

All in all, about 80 faculty members, students, and members of the larger Northwestern and Chicagoland community were in attendance for Thursday’s talk, during which Pandjaitan echoed the importance of international partnerships between Indonesia and America.

“Many of the problems we face now will be passed on to the next generation,” he said. “We hope to see more students from Indonesia attend universities like Northwestern and come back to help solve those problems.”