Indonesia to build cardiac center in Palestine

Antara News, Tue, February 08 2011

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Ministry of Health is building a cardiac center at Al Shifa hospital in Palestine, at a cost of Rp20 billion.

"Heart disease is most prevalent in the area, so is in eye diseases, but we chose a cardiac center because it is more life saving," Health Minister Endang Rahayu said after signing an MoU here Monday.

The MoU was signed by Health Ministry`s Secretary General Ratna Rosita and President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Ahmed Mohamed Ali in Jakarta Monday afternoon in the presence of the health minister.

The Indonesian Cardiac Center will be built on 1,500 square meters of floor space of the five floors of Al Shifa hospital in Northern Gaza, Palestine.

It will take eight years to build the center with a grant from the Indonesian government, including the medical equipment.

The medical facility is built under an Indonesian government`s commitment to provide humanitarian assistance for the people and government of Palestine as declared in the 2009 OKI meeting for the Reconstruction of Palestine in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt.

In the meantime the IDB became a partner in building the project.

IDB is committed to provide 8 million US dollars for the Indonesian Cardiac Center.

Upon completion of the project, the health minister will grant to the Palestinian government, which will be followed by an exchange in science and health personnel.

"The Palestinian government will not block the access of Indonesian volunteers," the health minister said.

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

Palestinian Ambassadors follow diplomatic training in Indonesia

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - An international diplomacy training which had been going on for almost a month now in Jakarta and in some other cities in Indonesia were followed by 23 foreign diplomats, including four Palestinians who are ambassadors to Bulgaria, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

Deputy Foreign Minister Triyono Wibowo when opening the training in Jakarta Thursday said that the training for the Palestinian officials was one form of Indonesia`s high commitment to help the struggle of the Palestinian people.

The diplomatic training opened at the foreign ministry on Thursday was a Foreign Service Staff School held from March 30 to April 24, 2009.

The third Sesparlu was attended by 13 senior diplomats from Indonesia and nine diplomats from China, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia and Laos as well as four Palestinian ambassadors.

Envoy: Palestine, Indonesia move to concrete cooperation

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Fariz Mehdawi said the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was successful as the two nations had agreed to embark on concrete cooperation.

Palestine and Indonesia signed a number of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) which would be implemented and followed by concrete actions, Ambassador Mehdawi told ANTARA News after the conclusion of the state visit of President Mahmoud Abbas to Jakarta, from October 21 to 23, 2007.

The MoUs signed by the two countries last Monday were on news exchange between ANTARA News Agency and Wafa News Agency, training and courses for Palestinian diplomats and policemen, sister-city cooperation between Al Quds (Jerusalem) and Jakarta, and regular consultations between the two administrations.

The ambassador said the two nations decided to move forward to concrete cooperation from their previous efforts which were mostly political and moral in nature.

The sister-city cooperation was important and Jakarta could help develop the infrastructure of East Jerusalem and prevent Israel from making it a Jewish city, he said.

Mehdawi also said that cooperation between both nations` media was significant, particularly to enable Indonesian journalists to witness the situation in Palestine directly.

He said at present a number of Indonesian chief editors, including Endy Bayuni of the Jakarta Post, Uni Lubis, and those from Tempo and Metro TV, were in Israel at the invitation of the Jewish Community in Australia.

Before leaving for Israel, they held a meeting with the Palestinian ambassador to ask about the latest situation and seek possibilities to meet Palestinina sources, he said.

Mehdawi said although the journalists` visit was not at the invitation of Palestine, he knew that the Indonesian media always supported Palestine.

Touching on the conflict between Hamas and Fatah, the Ambassador said Indonesia had offered to help resolve their dispute. Several religious and political figures such as Nur Hidayat Wahid, chairman of the People`s Consultative Assembly, and a leader of the PKS (Prosperous Justice Party) who had contacts with Hamas, could convince Hamas to return to the situation before Hamas` coup d`etat last June 14, 2007, the ambassador said.

Mehdawi said that despite their conflict, Hamas and Fatah had the same objective, namely to fight against Israeli occupation and to strive for an independent and sovereign Palestinian nation.