On July 22, Assistant Secretary Stock will meet with Indonesian students and faculty at Bali State Polytechnic, where she will discuss opportunities for study in the United States. Through the Comprehensive Partnership, the Department of State supports increased engagement with U.S. community colleges.

This week Indonesian scientists met with American counterparts in Jakarta to trade ideas and seek support for projects such as plastic made from local plants, new fuel cells and heartier varieties of rice. The researchers were participants at the KAVLI Frontiers of Science Symposium - one of a series of conferences partly sponsored by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

This month, Indonesians will get a chance to learn more about their neighbors to the north through a special cultural exchange program called "Experience China"...A series of cultural events, including music performances, film screenings, kung fu exhibitions and book fairs, will be held throughout July in the cities of Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan and Semarang.

From panda to shuttle to ping pong to even Facebook diplomacy, there are many different kinds of diplomatic practices that aim to inform, entertain and bring two nations closer together. There is now a new form of diplomacy straight from the Indonesian island of Java; one which is so heavily entrenched in their culture that even their president, government officials and sultans wear it on official functions.

The University of Indonesia (UI) signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate with universities in four European countries: France, Germany, Italy and Spain. University official Devie Rahmawati told Antara news agency that the deal was aimed at establishing cooperation on education, research, cultural diplomacy, lecturer and student exchanges as well as increasing foreign student exchange.

Seven years later, Jankowski’s vision of a collaborative cultural exchange between the sister cities is finally about to become a reality, as the Jakarta-Berlin Arts Festival kicks off in Germany on Saturday.

For the third time, Indonesian and Austrian civil society met in an interfaith dialogue. This year, dialogue took on a theme of “Religious Pluralism, Freedom of Religion – Responsibilities of the State, Society and Religious Communities”. The interfaith dialogue between Indonesia and Austria has become the model for many nations in establishing similar dialogue with Indonesia.

It's becoming an area of spirited debate in government and financial circles - what is and isn't a BRIC country and how should they be classified? As the emerging world forges ahead and western economies hesitatingly recover from the financial crisis the call for inclusion in the BRIC block becomes louder.