The Vice President was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi, Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy, Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri and Diaspora Indonesia Network Global President Herry Utomo.

The event began with a declaration reading by the congress members in 14 different languages.

This year’s event focused on three main topics: education and health for Papua and West Papua, diaspora’s contribution for energy saving and latest technology and protection for global Indonesian diaspora.

In his speech, Jusuf Kalla called on diaspora to help develop the country’s potential in all sectors, including education, culture, labor and business.

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He also mentioned the role of diaspora from places such as Singapore and China in improving the countries.

“Indonesia can also become great, not only in terms of population number but also quality,” said Jusuf Kalla.

Recently Indonesia’s credit rating has been raised to investment grade by S&P Global Ratings, “This investment grade makes it easier to attract foreign investors to Indonesia and promote Indonesian tourism. The Wonderful Indonesia tagline will be promoted by Indonesian diaspora in whatever their activities are,” added Jusuf Kalla.

During the speech, the Vice President whose hometown is in South Sulawesi also promoted Malino in Gowa regency as the new destination in South Sulawesi.

“Let’s go to Malino together and improve Indonesian tourism,” he said.

“Malino has been a tourist destination for years. We aim  to increase the number of tourist visit and make Malino one of national tourist destinations,” said Tourism Ministry's Archipelago Marketing Development deputy, Esthy Reko Astuti. (kes)

Editor's note: Paragraph two in this story has been corrected. It previously stated Sofjan Wanandi as Diaspora Indonesia Network Global president .