Indonesia continues to expand its cultural diplomacy to introduce it as one of the countries with the greatest cultural wealth in the world.
In supporting this effort, the Indonesian Embassy in Nairobi in collaboration with Indomie last Saturday participated in the 2024 Nairobi International Cultural Festival, which was held at the Nairobi National Museum, Kenya.
The festival, which was attended by around 8,000 visitors, showcased various cultural arts, tourism, culinary delights and products from 23 participating countries, and is a prestigious event held every year to showcase and promote the unique culture of each country to the people and expatriates in Kenya.
The Indonesian Embassy in Nairobi displays various collections of woven and batik cloth, wooden masks, and knick-knacks of cultural art from various regions in Indonesia. It is also promoting various tourist destinations in Indonesia, investment potential, and dissemination of other activities such as Indonex (Indonesia-Nairobi Expo) which will be held in September, 2024 at Saritt Mall Nairobi, and Trade Expo Indonesia 2024 at ICE BSD.
The Embassy is also collaborating specifically with Indomie to further popularize Indonesia’s superior products at this event.
During the event, the Indonesian Ambassador to Nairobi, Dr. Muhamad Hery Saripudin, expressed his appreciation for the enthusiasm and cooperation shown by the Government of Kenya (organizer of the activity), and participating countries, as well as the active participation of all visitors.
“The diversity of world arts and culture that live side by side in harmony needs to be preserved, such as Indonesia’s motto ‘Bhinneka Tunggal Ika’ or Unity in Diversity,” he said.
The efforts of the Indonesian Embassy in Nairobi to appear optimal in this event were not in vain, because the Indonesian booth attracted a lot of attention from visitors.
It was evident that what visitors were longing for is typical Indonesian culinary delights such as fried rice, rendang rice, chicken satay, meatball noodles, tempe chips and cendol ice. Indonesian and Kenyan students wearing regional clothing who participated in promoting Indonesia at this event proved capable of attracting attendees to visit the Indonesian booth.
Even though there was no selection for the best booth this year, the head of the organizers and participants of this event told the Indonesian Embassy in Nairobi that the Indonesian booth was the most interesting and most visited by visitors. In particular, the display of posters, videos and brochures for various tourist destinations was very attractive to visitors to the Indonesian booth.
The visitors were entertained with artistic and cultural performances from the countries participating in this event. The performance of the Pencak Silat Padepokan in Kenya invited admiration from the audience. On this occasion, Pencak Silat was also echoed as an Indonesian cultural heritage recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible World Heritage of Humanity, and its existence is now worldwide, including in Kenya and various other African countries.
Ambassador Hery Saripudin stated that the participation of the Indonesian Embassy in Nairobi in this event was very important and had succeeded in introducing Indonesia broadly and integrated, including arts and culture, tourism, Indonesian products and investment.
It is hoped that this promotional event will attract Kenyans and other foreigners to visit Indonesia, both to visit tourist attractions and buy products and invest in Indonesia.
Ambassador Hery Saripudin also invited the global community to visit Indonesia to see and enjoy firsthand its rich arts and culture and natural beauty.
