W

hile the dust has barely settled after the recent visits of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and numerous leaders from around the Indian Ocean rim, the State Palace is gearing up to roll out the red carpet for at least two more heavyweights in the coming months.

Jakarta is preparing to welcome outgoing French President Francois Hollande for a state visit on March 29, officials said, marking the first time in more than 30 years that a French leader has set foot in Indonesia.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi received her French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault earlier this month to lay out plans for Hollande’s visit, which is likely to be one of his last outings in office as he prepares to step down ahead of an election in May. Hollande has stated that he will not run for the presidency again.

In April, Jakarta will host United States Vice President Mike Pence on his first high-level outing to the region, as revealed by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto earlier this week.

“Indonesia has been expecting a lot of state guests lately, with the French president planning to visit at the end of this month and the US vice president likely a day after the Jakarta election,” Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said at the palace on Wednesday.

The second round of the Jakarta gubernatorial election is set for April 19, making the probable timing of Pence’s visit on April 20.

“Hopefully everything follows through,” Pramono said.

He said the recent spate of state visits showed how Indonesia’s political stability had gained acknowledgement worldwide, and that despite all the struggles of democracy, many of the world’s leaders appreciated the work Indonesia had done.

“In the global context, this shows that Indonesia is becoming a beacon of hope and a focus of attention amid a fast-paced, changing world,” he said.

Muhammad Anshor, the Foreign Ministry’s director general for American and European affairs, confirmed Hollande’s visit on March 28 to 29 and Pence’s on April 20.

Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir also welcomed the planned visit from Pence but warned that the dates were still under discussion.

He did, however, confirm Hollande’s visit, saying his meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo would follow up on a number of issues such as cooperation in the maritime sector and the creative economy.

Arrmanatha also acknowledged the possibility of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani making a state visit to Indonesia in the coming weeks, marking a rare break from the leader’s previous diplomatic overtures in the Middle East and Europe.

“For the visit of the Afghan president, we’re still in the process of planning a date and what the main focus of the visit would be,” he said.

Ghani’s state visit was first hinted at by Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Indonesia Roya Rahmani on the sidelines of a trip by the country’s justice minister, Abdul Baseer Haidari, to Jakarta.

Haidari’s visit last week was part of Afghanistan’s efforts to learn from the expertise of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in fighting graft, as Kabul plans to establish its own ad-hoc anticorruption body.