Austria opens its new ‘green’ embassy

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Tue, 11/29/2011

For a bright future: Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia Klaus Wolfer
(second left) gestures as he gives his opening statement accompanied
 by Austrian State Secretary for European and International Affairs. Wolfgang
 Waldner (right) while Indonesian Foreign Ministry’s American and Europe
 Affairs director general Retno L.P. Marsudi (second right) looks on at the
 reception of Austrian Day at the Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Hotel in Jakarta
on Monday. JP/ Jerry Adiguna

Hundreds of guests strolled into the spacious ballroom at Hotel Indonesia-Kempinski in Central Jakarta to celebrate Austria’s national day and the official opening of the new “green” embassy building.

Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia Klaus Wolfer and his wife greeted guests, including Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry director general for American and European affairs Retno L.P. Marsudi and other diplomats from foreign representative offices in Jakarta.

Visiting Austrian State Secretary for European and International affairs Wolfgang Waldner also attended the ceremony.

Wolfer said that Austria had officially opened its new “green” embassy in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Monday morning.

“Jakarta should be the place that will go beyond the normal routine to establish low-energy housing in tropical climates,” Wolfer told The Jakarta Post during the ceremony.He said that the embassy was installed with instruments to prevent heat. “We applied solar panels in the building to save energy.”

Wolfer added that the new two-story building could reduce the wasted energy from 100 percent to only 17 percent.He said that Jakarta was the pilot project for the green type embassy building which would possibly

apply in other countries.

Waldner also said that Austria and Indonesia’s foreign ministers had signed an agreement about student exchanges on Monday morning.

“We are planning to send 10 post-graduate Indonesian students to Austria next year,” he told the Post, adding that there will be two-way exchanges in the future.

He said that at present the student exchange program would only be for postgraduate students of mathematics and natural sciences.

“We will send Indonesian students to some universities in Vienna and in the future we will send Austrian students to the Bandung Institute of Technology and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta,” Wolfer added.(drs)