TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi is campaigning for Indonesia`s bid for non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the 2019-2020 term.

"Indonesia has the required qualifications for UNSC non-permanent membership for the 2019-2020 term and we are ready for it," the minister said in a press statement.

The minister made the statement while officially launching a campaign for Indonesias bid for UNSC non-permanent membership at the UN Headquarters in New York on Friday (Sept 23).

The launch coincided with a diplomatic reception held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to mark the 71st anniversary of Indonesias independence.

In her address, she spoke of Indonesias standing that made it a candidate adequately suited to become a UNSC non-permanent member.

Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation, the third largest democratic country and the largest Muslim country in the world, she added.

Indonesia has also been able to prove that Islam, democracy, modernity and womens empowerment can run in harmony, she underlined.

"With more than 17 thousand islands which are home to more than 1,300 ethnic groups, Indonesia is a genuine model for tolerance and pluralism, the values that it has always projected in its relations with other countries," she stressed.

Indonesia was first elected a UNSC non-permanent member for the period 1974-1975, then for the second time in 1995-1996 and a third time in 2007-2008, when the country had received 158 votes out of the 192 member states that vote in the UN General Assembly.

The country is now again planning to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. Vice President Jusuf Kalla kicked off the campaign for membership at the UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday night.

Kalla marked the official start of the campaign by sounding a gong at the UN Headquarters building at an event featuring a reception and some typical Indonesian cultural performances.

ANTARA