Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi (born 27 November 1962) is an Indonesian diplomat who formerly served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Joko Widodo between 2014 and 2024. She is the first female minister appointed to the post.[1] She was previously the Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands from 2012 to 2014, as well as Ambassador to Iceland and Norway from 2005 to 2008.[2]
Early life and education
Marsudi was born Retno Lestari Priansari and was born on 27 November 1962 in Semarang, Central Java, as the eldest child and daughter of the five children of Moch Sidik (1934–2016), a high school teacher and veteran soldier, and Retno Werdiningsih (b. 1940), a high school employee.[3] She graduated from SMAN 3 Semarang and continued her study in International Relations, graduating from Gadjah Mada University in 1985. She then pursued a Master's degree in International European Law & Policy at The Hague University of Applied Science and followed the Foreign Ministry training program at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael.[4]
Diplomatic service
Europe
Marsudi joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from university. Between 1997 and 2001, Marsudi served as First Secretary for Economic Affairs at the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands. In 2001, she was appointed as Director of Europe and America Affairs.[5] Marsudi was promoted to Director of West Europe Affairs in 2003.[6]
Norway and Iceland
In 2005, Marsudi was appointed as the Indonesian Ambassador to Norway and Iceland.[5] During her tenure, she was awarded the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit in December 2011, the first Indonesian to receive the award.[7] She also briefly took up the study of human rights at the University of Oslo. Marsudi returned to Jakarta and was appointed Director General for European and American Affairs.
Netherlands
Marsudi was appointed as Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands in 2011 by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.[8] She has also led various multilateral negotiations and bilateral consultations with the EU, ASEM, and FEALAC.[5]
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Retno Marsudi in Washington, D.C., 2017.Marsudi in 2024.
Appointment
On 27 October 2014, Marsudi was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by President Joko Widodo in his Working Cabinet.[9] In October 2019, she was re-appointed for a second term as Minister of Foreign Affairs by President Joko Widodo in the Onward Indonesia Cabinet.
Covid–19
In 2021, Marsudi was appointed co-chair – alongside Karina Gould and Lia Tadesse – of the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) Engagement Group; the AMC is a financing instrument established to support the participation of 92 lower-middle and low-income economies in the COVAX Facility and ensure their access to COVID-19 vaccines.[10]
Myanmar
In 2023, Marsudi headed Indonesia's newly established Office of Special Envoy to Myanmar for ASEAN, where she pushed for the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) and sought to engage with "all stakeholders" in the ongoing Myanmar civil war to enable dialogue and find a solution to the crisis.[11][12] By the end of her tenure, however, little impact was made to ending the violence in the country.[13]
Marsudi is married to Agus Marsudi, an architect, and has had two sons, Dyota (b. 8 February 1989) and Bagas Marsudi (b. 1993).[3] The two of them then often carry out the agenda of climbing Mount Merapi together once a year.[3]
Dyota is married to Natalia Rialucky Marsudi and has had a son, Manggala Astabrata Marsudi, who was Marsudi's eldest grandson.[15]
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