Alatas installs new senior official

Alatas installs new senior official

JAKARTA: Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas on Friday
installed Rachmat Ranudiwidjaya as the new director general for
protocol and consular affairs, replacing Dadang Sukandar, who is
to be appointed the new ambassador to France.

Rachmat, born in Garut, West Java, in 1944, was a former
consul general in New York.

Alatas called on the Directorate General for Protocol and
Consular Affairs to improve its public services to foreign
visitors and Indonesian people working overseas.

"This directorate general should revitalize its important role
in providing protection for Indonesian workers overseas. It
should also improve its service for foreign visitors in protocol
and consular affairs," he said in his speech at the swearing-in
ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The minister said the ministry, through Indonesian embassies,
should play a constructive role handling consular problems faced
by Indonesian workers abroad.

"Such problems can be solved only if the directorate general
enhances cooperation with related government ministries and
agencies," he said. (rms)