Sixteen ambassadorial posts vacant

JAKARTA: An official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday that 16 ambassadorial posts overseas were vacant as their respective envoys had finished their terms.

The ministry's secretary-general Soedjatman Parnohadiningrat said that the ministry had finished picking candidates to fill the vacant positions. "We will give the names to President Megawati. She is expected to hand over the names to the House of Representatives for approval soon," he told reporters here.

He expected that in the beginning of May, the House could hold a hearing to decide who among the candidates would assume the vacant posts, for key countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Canada.

Soedjatman said that most of the candidates for the ambassadorial posts had served in the foreign affairs ministry. "However, there are around 25 candidates with no foreign affairs ministry background," he said, adding that there would be no preferential treatment given to candidates from the ministry itself. -- JP