Indonesian soldiers take part in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force parade in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on October 16 last year. (Photo: VNA)Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi has affirmed Indonesia’s commitment to sending 1,000 morepersonnel to the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions.
“The commitment to promoting training and capacity buildingof the peacekeepers is absolutely necessary to support mandates of the missionsand to ensure their safety,” the minister said at the 4th UN PeacekeepingMinisterial (UNPM) Meeting chaired by the Republic of Korea on December 7.
Marsudi went on to say that amid the pandemic, the peacekeepers areassigned to support the host country in handling COVID-19, thus knowledge of public health is really important.
She said the Triangular Partnership Project which isexpected to take place in Indonesia next year is a manifestation of the country’scommitment to fostering the innovative partnership which helps increase the capacityof female peacekeepers, particularly in their tasks to protect civilians.
Also at the meeting, Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand pledgedan additional 7.7 million CAD over two years to the Elsie Initiative for Womenin Peace Operations to help strengthen peacekeeping operations.
Anand said the Government of Canada will increase contributions to the UN Secretary-General Peacebuilding Fund and provide an additional 2million CAD to support the implementation of the principles that the nationsattending the 2017 peacekeeping meeting in Vancouver agreed. As of the end of September, Canada had 57 soldiers andpolice officers participating in the UN peacekeeping force./.
