Indonesia decided to offer 2008 Arts and Culture Scholarship to foreign artists for a cultural exchange program following last year's success, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda announced it Monday at the opening of the program.

The program involved 51 artists from 30 member countries of Southwest Pacific Dialogue (SwPD) and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), ASEAN, China, Japan, South Korea, India, South Africa, the U.S., Azerbaijan, the Netherlands and the UK.

"I was encouraged by my school management to join this event, and fortunately I was accepted after the selection process," a program participant from China's Hong Kong SAR, Chow Chi Yin, told Xinhua, on Monday.

Another participant from China, Wangshuang, who is a student from the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, said she wanted to develop her musical knowledge by studying the Indonesian traditional music.

"I want to learn to play Gamelan dan Angklung (Indonesian musical instruments) during the program," she told Xinhua.

The spokesman of Indonesian foreign ministry Teuku Faizasyah said that the program is likely a forum of people-to-people contact.

"This is a long-term investment of Indonesian foreign policy," he said.

The participants of the program will spend around three months in Indonesia. Besides learning Indonesian traditional arts and culture, they will also gain knowledge of Indonesian foreign policy in general.