Semarang City Government: Prof Ian O’Connor, Vice Chancellor and President hosted a dinner event in honour of a senior Government delegation from Semarang, one of Indonesian’s most important cities, on Thursday 24 October 2013. Mr Adi Tri Hanango Semarang City Regional Secretary, representing the Mayor of Semarang, Mr Hendrar Prihadi, attended the dinner with more than 150 guests at the Nathan campus arranged by Griffith in conjunction with the Australia Indonesian Business Council (Qld) and Brisbane City Council.
Part of the evening’s proceedings included the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, a collaboration between Griffith and Semarang City Council that will see cooperation in the areas of education; science, environment, engineering and technology; health and business. The delegation also took part in workshops on Tourism and Small Business Resilience; and Environmental Waste Management during the day at Griffith. With a population of approximately two million people, Semarang is the capital of the Indonesian province of Central Java and has been a sister city of Brisbane for 20 years. The evening included a cultural celebration with a musical performance by the CESDI/Griffith University Students Association on the “Angklung” bamboo instrument; Queensland Conservatorium Griffith Universityaward winning guitarist Sean Flynn; Indonesian Gamelan by Francis Gilfedder; and a colourful Indonesian batik display from Semarang and Queensland. CESDI is the ‘Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development for Indonesia’.