REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Five Palestinians are currently participating in a construction and water search training course organized by the Indonesian defense ministry and running from June 4 to July 5, 2012. Although the training course was being held at the Army`s Engineering Education Center in Bogor, West Java, the defense ministry did not provide military training, Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said here Thursday.

The defense ministry has organized a non-military training course for the Palestinians at the request of the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry. The training course is a reflection of the Indonesian government`s commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian country. 

Indonesia wss committed to improve the capacity building and quality of human resources of Palestine, Sjafrie said in a press statement. The training course is also mandated in the Declaration on the New Asian African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) to contribute to the development of Palestine.

NAASP was created during the Asian African Summit held in Jakarta in 2005. Indonesia and South Africa became co-chairs of NAASP in 2005.  In July 2008, Indonesia hosted a NAASP Ministerial Conference on Capacity Building for Palestine. Participants of the meeting agreed to provide training programs for 10,000 Palestinians within a five-year period, from 2008 to 2013.

Further, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged that Indonesia would train 1,000 Palestinians. Through 2010, Indonesia had organized 30 training programs for 126 Palestinians. The training programs organized by Indonesia included training courses on Fire Rescue, Project Cycles, Gender Mainstreaming for Officers of the Ministry of Women`s Affairs and a training course on Coal and Mineral Resources Management.

Indonesia has also been acting as a coordinator for Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, China, the Philippines, India, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam.

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