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In preparation for President Obama’s visit to Indonesia on June 14, American Under Secretary Maria Otero has been meeting with senior diplomats, NGOs, and non-profit organizations to discuss global issues that the two countries have mutual interests in.

“One of the key goals of the trip was to engage with government officials on how our democracies can cooperate to support and strengthen the democratic institutions in the region. And this would all be part of the US-Indonesian comprehensive partnership that we are entering in and that the President will be launching,” she said.

Ms. Otero met with the Indonesian vice foreign minister and other senior officials, most of them involved in policy-planning.

Otero also met with government officials and representatives of local international nonprofit organizations who are working on the issue of people-trafficking in Indonesia.

She said “the biggest way in which trafficking is manifested in Indonesia is by domestic servants who travel overseas to work in other home – in homes in foreign countries who are mistreated or are not paid or whose passports are taken away from them and they really become enslaved as they work.”

It is estimated that there are more than 2 million Indonesians migrant workers.

When asked if Indonesians had the same perception of America as the people of Pakistan, she said "Indonesia right now has a very favorable attitude, approach towards the United States – very favorable.

She also said that President Obama's childhood links to Indonesia played a strong role in Indonesia's perception of the US.

"The fact that Barack Obama is the President of the United States and lived in Indonesia for three to four years, it does make him, from the perspective of Indonesians, a particularly important person for them. "