Imron Cotan

Imron Cotan (born 21 December 1954) is an Indonesian diplomat. He was Ambassador of Indonesia to Australia between 2003 and 2005, and Ambassador of Indonesia to China between 2010 and 2013.

Early life Imron was born on 21 December 1954. He graduated from Gadjah Mada University in 1982, majoring in international relations, before joining the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs on the next year. After completing the department's course for junior diplomats in 1984, he was assigned to supervise Indonesia's bilateral cooperation with friendly countries regarding environmental preservation. He was then posted to the permanent mission in Geneva in 1986 with the rank of third secretary, handling matters related to intellectual property rights. He was then instructed to participate in the UN Disarmament Fellowship Program in 1989 to familiarize himself with issues of international peace and security.

Following this, he returned to the foreign ministry as the chief of the disarmament section within the Directorate of International Organizations, Directorate General for Political Affairs, a position he held for two years. In 1992, he was again sent to Geneva to head the international peace and security affairs section, first as a second secretary and later promoted to first secretary, serving until 1997. During this period, he was intensively involved in various negotiating forums, including the Conference on Disarmament, Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) Conferences, Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Conferences, Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review and Extension Conferences, and the UN General Assembly. Notably, during the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference, Mr. Imron served as the spokesman for the Non-Aligned Movement and was Indonesia's chief negotiator in Main Committee I. He was briefly recalled to Jakarta in August 2003 to be nominated as ambassador to Russia. However, the House of Representatives recommended him to be appointed as ambassador to Australia instead due to his superb performance. He was installed as ambassador on 20 November 2003 and presented his credentials to the Governor General of Australia Michael Jefferry eight days later. Imron said the aid and relief Australia's military had provided to Indonesia in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami had brought the two countries closer. He said however that he was stunned at the way Australians reacted to the arrest and sentencing of Schapelle Corby for drug smuggling in 2004–05—some Australians wanted the country's tsunami aid taken into account in Corby's sentencing.

Imron was appointed Ambassador of Indonesia to China in 2010. In an interview in 2011, Imron said he was proud to see the relationship between the two countries reach its highest point ever. While he was ambassador, the Indonesian Government opened a consulate general in Shanghai, which was expected to enhance the ties between the two nations.

Personal life Imron is married to Sri Nuraeni Cotan, and they have two daughters and a son.