To introduce the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and the United States, the American Corner (AMCOR) of UIN Walisongo Semarang held a seminar entitled “Indonesian US Relationship and policy priorities” which was conducted offline at the American Corner Building of UIN Walisongo Semarang, Monday (16/10).

The seminar was attended by AMCOR UIN Walisongo Semarang staff, AMCOR UIN Walisongo Volunteers, and UIN Walisongo students.

The seminar was filled by speakers from the US Embassy for Indonesia, Scott H. Linton as Political Officer and Alexis Polivina as Program Economist.

Program support staff, Kiki Denhas, representing the director of AMCOR, said that he was very enthusiastic about this seminar and hoped that it would strengthen bilateral relations between Indonesia and the US in future.

The next session was given entirely to Scott H. Linton. In this session he briefly explained about strengthening the U.S- Indonesia partnership.

“Cooperation in the economic field is one of the focuses of cooperation between Indonesia-U.S. In addition, US and Indonesia also cooperate in education and defense,” he said.

At this seminar, Scott, emphasized more on cooperation in education.

“Cooperation is shown in the field of education such as in the fullbright program and the young southeast asian leaders initiative (YSEALI), and various scholarships provided by the United States or student exchanges that are often held in Indonesia,” he said.

In the last session, the material was presented by Alexis Polivinan as Program Economist from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Jakarta. On this occasion, she explained in detail the various fields of cooperation carried out by USAID.

“USAID currently focuses on issues of democracy, economic growth, health, and environmental sustainability in Indonesia. In carrying out cooperation USAID establishes relationships with the private sector, government, society, and the community,” she said.

Then, she explained the concrete evidence that USAID has done in these fields

“In the field of environment, USAID focuses on sustainable resource management. In democracy, USAID focuses on preventing corruption by improving oversight, prevention, and community participation. In health, USAID focuses on stunting, HIV/AIDS, and reducing maternal and child mortality. For the economy, it focuses on developing and improving workforce skills,”  she explained.