The Korea-Indonesia Film Festival 2016 kicked off on Wednesday (26/10) with a screening of Korean flick "The Age of Shadows." Organizers hope the festival can foster more cultural exchange between the two countries.

Italian architect and interior designer Francesco Librizzi and Taiwanese interior designer Timmy Chou were guest speakers in the "Design Excellence: Country Branding Through Design" discussion on efforts at building and managing a country's reputation through valuable products. Both discussed ways local values and national pride affect the design industry in their respective countries.

During the session, Google Cultural Institute (GCI) operations head [...] shared their experiences in disseminating the arts through digital technology. GCI’s Google Arts and Culture (artsandculture.google.com), for example, has endeavored to break physical barriers between the public and the arts by providing 360-degree virtual tours of museums all over the world.

In his speech, Hilmar said that this carnival was held as part of activities of the WCF 2016 and served as a place to express the cultural diversity of each country. He said that the world would need more such forums to express the culture and cultural ideas. "The key message is that diversity is part of human life, and culture is our strength to be united and making friendship in the world," he said.

Held on Oct. 9-14 2016 in four traditional villages in Bali, [...] IYF is a part of World Culture Forum 2016 [...] The event will see 173 participants from 39 countries to build an awareness of the importance of a cultural perspective in perceiving social, economic and political issues globally and locally as well as encourage the youth around the world to get involved in building a better society. 

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has emphasized the importance of social media as a tool for diplomats to obtain timely information and to represent Indonesia abroad. "It is impossible for diplomats not to take advantage of social media in this [digital] era," Retno said in her opening speech at the Kompasianival event in South Jakarta on Saturday (08/10).

The government will create a national brand to lift the country’s image in the global arena in order to boost its economic earnings, an official from the presidential office has said. “Indonesia’s image is still low compared to other countries,” Sumartono Darmanto, deputy senior advisor for analysis and oversight of strategic issues on economic affairs at the Presidential Office, during a focus group discussion on Thursday in Jakarta. 

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has urged the Cabinet to enhance the soft-power approach to improve Indonesia's image, highlighting national branding as a strategy to improve the country's competitiveness in trade, tourism and investment.