Counsellor of Indonesian Embassy in Colombo, Dwatmaji Hanomanresi expressed his hope that BAZNAS can play more role to strengthen bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Maldives and praised BAZNAS effort. In the breakfast meeting in Male City on Wednesday (7/18) with Puskas BAZNAS Director, Irfan Syauqi Beik, Dwatmaji also shared current update on the diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Maldives that was managed by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Colombo, which is responsible for two countries, i.e. Srilanka and Maldives.

He said that the area that can be explored for further collaboration with Maldives is still open. He also informed that currently there are around two thousand Indonesians working in the tourism industry here in Maldives. Mostly they worked in the resorts and hotels in tourism spot all over the country.

As response to Dwatmaji, Irfan Syauqi Beik stated that BAZNAS mission is to extend collaboration with many countries including Maldives. "It is very important to campaign on zakat to all muslims globally so that we can build zakat civilization that can solve the problem of the ummah especially in poverty alleviation endeavors, " Irfan said. Zakat can also be the media to develop mutual understanding and interest with the non Islamic countries and international or multilateral institution as zakat has become attractive international issue nowadays.

Irfan also said that the global zakat potential is very big. However, actual collection of zakat is still lagged behind. "Therefore, improvement of management quality of zakat is a must," Irfan said. Irfan also expressed his gratefulness for the Embassy's support to make current official visit to Maldives a successful visit.

Rep: Puskas BAZNAS