Indonesian president to open Bali Democracy Forum

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will open the 4th Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) in Nusa Dua, Bali on Thursday, local media reported.This year's forum will focus on efforts towards enhanced people participation by way of responding to democratic voices and relevant issues involved in the process.Indonesia launched the first Bali Democracy Forum in 2008 with goals and objectives to place democracy as a strategic agenda in regional discourse in Asia, to forge closer understanding and cooperation among participating countries.The forum is also aimed at establishing a regional cooperation forum that promotes political development through dialogue and sharing of experience and aimed at strengthening democratic institutions and national capacities.The forum was also intended to initiate a learning and sharing process among countries in Asia as a strategy towards the maintenance of peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and beyond.It was also a place to build a platform for mutual support and cooperation in the field of democracy and political development and to function as a resource base and information center for research and study as well as a pool of expertise in the various sectors relevant to democracy.An expected 15 head of states would attend the event with 54 participating countries from the Asia Pacific region, such as Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Qatar, Sri Lanka and others.As many as 66 countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, England, Kenya, Nigeria and representatives from the European Union and international organizations are expected to attend the event as observers."Indonesia would like to contribute by holding the event for the fourth time, this is the only special forum to discuss on democracy problems. We could present Indonesia as a leading country to promote democracy," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa on Wednesday.The presence of heads of state or heads of government this year increased compared to the previous event."There were three heads of states in last year's event, but this year increase to eight heads of state, there are also 25 ministerial-level officials who attended the event and three observer countries", he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.