Indonesia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Interfaith Dialogue and Civilization Affairs at MGIMO

Indonesia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Interfaith Dialogue and Civilization Affairs at MGIMO

3 September 2019

September 3rd, Indonesia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Interfaith Dialogue and Civilization Affairs Prof. Syafiq Mughni accompanied by the representatives from the Indonesian Embassy in Moscow paid a visit to MGIMO.

The Rector welcomed guests and shared MGIMO’s experience in academic cooperation with the ASEAN countries. Both sides discussed education opportunities for Indonesian students at MGIMO. The meeting was as well attended by MGIMO Vice-Rector Artem Malgin, the ASEAN Centre’s Director Victor Sumsky and the Sanctions Policy Expertise Center’s Director Ekaterina Arapova.

After the meeting Prof. Mughni gave a lecture on Indonesia’s government policy on interfaith affairs and issues that the country faces today in this sphere. Prof. Mughni underlined that although more than 85% of the 260 million country’s population is Muslims, the Islam is not a state religion. He noted that the religious festivals among the Christians, Buddhists, Hindus as well as Muslims are national-wide. The religion doesn’t affect the official appointments and there are other great examples of tolerance in Indonesia. The lecture ended with Q&A session on future prospects of interfaith dialogue between Russia and Indonesia and joint cooperation in countering religious extremism.

The speaker received commemorative gifts devoted to the 75th Anniversary  of MGIMO, and the photo album “Indonesia: Land of Ancient Traditions” by Sergey Kovalchuk. A 3-year creative project supported by the ASEAN Centre resulted in a photo album which was published in May. Its presentation and the opening ceremony of the Sergey Kovalchuk’s photo exhibition of best works from the Indonesian collection will take place at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in Jakarta.

ASEAN Centre

— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version