Kofi Annan to be keynote speaker at Bali Democracy Forum 2016

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will be one of the key speakers at the December 8-9 ninth Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) in Nusa Dua, Bali.

This was disclosed by the Director General of Information and Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esti Andayani.

"Until this morning, 62 participants had confirmed their participation. They will come from 58 countries and four international organizations. Eleven countries will be represented at the ministerial level, while seven countries will send their deputy ministers. There will also be 67 observers," Esti Andayani informed here on Tuesday.

She added that 47 media houses, both at home and abroad, will cover the democracy forum.

"The forum will feature a panel discussion on several topics, including promoting democracy and religious harmony. Besides Kofi Annan, Surin Pitsuwan, the ASEAN Secretary General of 2008-2012 will also be a speaker in the panel," she added. The BDF 2016 will be themed, "Religion, Democracy, and Pluralism."

According to her, the BDFs theme is in keeping with the situation where an increasing number of people have been moving from the Middle East to Europe.

"The immigrants are diverse and it is a challenge for Indonesia to provide a solution to this issue through this forum," she pointed out.

Related to the BDFs theme, the delegates and participants will be invited to see firsthand the ways in which harmony is maintained in Bali, especially through the Bali Insani Foundation in Tabanan.

"We will visit an Islamic boarding school of Bina Insani in Tabanan, where a larger population is Hindu but an Islamic boarding school has accommodated it," Esti explained.

She reminded that some Hindu teachers are also teaching at the school where the students come mostly from Bali.

"Although they are Muslims, they continue to use Balinese names like Ketut and Nyoman. We want to show that harmonious coexistence to the BDF delegates and participants," Esti underlined.

Source: ANTARA