Leaving for Warsaw, Poland

Tonight I will be leaving Jakarta for a trip to Europe. My first stop will be Warsaw, Poland. I will attend the First Indonesia Expo-Central & East Europe (IE CEE). I was invited by the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia for the Republic of Poland, HE Hazairin Pohan. I have known him for quite some time and find him as a highly competent diplomat as well as a smart marketer. Before, he was the long serving Director for Central and East Europe (CEE) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One of our encounter was at a workshop two years ago.
A couple years ago, in early July 2006, I was asked to conduct a workshop for approximately 30 high profiled Indonesian diplomats. The mission was to share a marketing framework and mindset for them to be able to play the role as a marketer for Indonesia. The workshop was located in the classic city and capital of Romania, Bucharest. One of the concrete outputs from the workshop was Indonesia’s positioning statement as “exotic and resourceful”
Through the years, Ambassador Pohan has longed the idea of building a stronger cooperation with the CEE countries and Indonesia. Both parties have a great deal of potential that is yet to be unleashed. Through the initiation of a large scale exhibition of Indonesian offerings, he brought up the idea of bridging a seemingly distance between Indonesia and the CEE. Generally, the event is intended to bring closer the markets of Europe and Indonesia and the entailed business opportunities, as well as obtain more insights of our unique culture.
Looking forward for that!