Amb. Nicholas Tandi Dammen of Indonesia and Madame Lenny Dammen hosted their farewell party to say farewell to their closest friends including ASEAN envoys at the Amb’s residence on Sep. 27, 2012. They are scheduled to leave Seoul on Oct. 1.
Brunei Amb. Dato Haji Harun Ismail, Malaysia Amb. Dato’ Ramlan bin Ibrahim, Laos Amb. Khamla Xayachack, and Cambodia Amb. Ky Sim Chan were on hand besides some Korean businessmen such as Senior Vice President Kwak Dong-hoon of GS E&C, Sr. Managing Director Fred Joo of Hansae and Planning Director Kang Woo-Hyung of P & Partners Investment Co., Ltd.

▲ Amb. Ismail of Brunei(second from left) presents an appreciation plague to Amb. Dammen(third from left) on behalf of the all ASEAN envoys to thank Amb. Dammen’s devotion for the solidarity of the ASEAN embassies in Seoul.

Amb. Ismail of Brunei presented an appreciation plague to Amb. Dammen on behalf of the all ASEAN envoys to thank Amb. Dammen’s devotion for the solidarity of the ASEAN embassies in Seoul. During the reception, Amb. Dammen and ASEAN envoys sang together at the reception hall to commit their long-lasting friendship and cooperation.

The following is a speech, delivered by His Excellency Amb. Nicholas Tandi Dammen of Indonesia on the occasion of his farewell reception. –Ed.

Colleagues and friends,

It is indeed a great privilege and honour for me to hold the farewell party this evening to bid farewell to my colleagues and friends in Korea. I would like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here for me. I am going to end my tenure of duty as Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to the Republic of Korea after having served for about three years and 7 months.
As I look back on my time in Korea, I really feel grateful to you all for the friendly cooperation and support kindly extended to me and my family. I have always enjoyed every opportunity to meet so many wonderful and interesting people in Korea like you.

▲ Amb. Dammen (second from left) singing with his Korean friends at his farewell evening.

It has been a truly valuable experience for me to work with you. Thanks to your cooperation and support, substantial progress has been made in the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Korea during my period, Indonesian President visited Korea 3 times and vice versa, and also a lot of Ministers and lawmakers visited each other’s country, not to mention the private sectors. Indonesia has become Korea’s 7th largest trading partner while Korea is the 3rd biggest investor to Indonesia.
It couldn’t be possible without our cordial relations that I have been privileged to enjoy with you during my assignment. My sincere gratitude to all distinguished friends here who have enriched my stay in Korea.
Though I leave my friends and this wonderful country behind. I assure you that I will continue to endeavor to be of help in one way or another in the future to maintain our ties of friendship and cooperation that we have fostered together over the years.
I wish you all the best.