On November the 5th Vytautas Magnus University welcomed the ambassador of Indonesia (from his residence in Copenhagen) Bomer Pasaribu. Guest met with VMU vice-rector prof. Juozas Augutis, International Affairs head Zita Baltrėnienė, Centre for Asian Studies head Dr. Aurelijus Zykas and Foreign Languages Institute representative Dr. Vilma Bijeikienė.

During the visit the expansion of Indonesian and Southeast Asian studies at VMU were discussed. Ambassador was glad that our university is very active in trying to collaborate with Indonesian universities and that there are VMU graduates who already have studied in Indonesia. Guest noted that it would be useful for both sides to begin the international exchange between the countries as well as to collaborate in joint research and scientific exchange.

Dr. Aurelijus Zykas emphasized that the interest in Souteast Asian countries is rapidly growing with the increasing connections in business and tourism. However, there is a lack of experts in the languages and specifics of the region, so in his opinion it would be appropriate to make first steps introducing the unknown cultures to Lithuania by initiating Indonesian language lessons and encouraging students to discover the far-away Southeast Asia.

Later the ambassador visited the Centre for Asian Studies and met with the staff, reviewed widely developed reading room, was introduced to the history of Asian studies at VMU and the connections with the many East Asia universities. Bomer Pasaribu was impressed with the number of languages taught in the Foreign Languages Institute and university’s internationality.

Inodesia, with 237 milion habitants, is 4th biggest country in the aspect of residents and the bigest muslim nation. It belongs to the international organisation ASEAN together with outher 9 countries from Southeast Asia. Between them Indonesia is the biggest country according to the number of residents, territory and GDP. It is a democratic country with expanding economy. Even though almost 700 ethnic groups and languages can be counted in the country, the national language is Indonesian which is the eight most spoken language in the world.

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