REMARKS BY
H.E. DR. R. M. MARTY M. NATALEGAWA
MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
AT THE OFFICIAL LAUNCHING OF
INDONESIA’S SOUTH-SOUTH AND TRIANGULAR COOPERATION PROGRAMS
JAKARTA, 9 APRIL 2012
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests and Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me first to extend a warm welcome to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.
For those of you who have travelled from overseas to participate in our technical cooperation programmes, I also wish to bid you a very warm welcome to Indonesia.
Indeed, we are truly pleased that you could join us at this important event: the launching of Indonesia’s South-South and Triangular Cooperation Programs.
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Indonesia has long been an ardent advocate and practitioner of technical cooperation among developing countries – of which the South-South and Triangular Cooperation is a fundamental component.
For us, such an effort is more than a token of solidarity among developing countries.
It is also an important and concrete means to enhance the wellbeing of all peoples around the world.
This is even more relevant today, when we are at the penultimate lap to the finish line to meet the MDGs targets in 2015.
And we are therefore called upon to make the final sprint towards our goal.
The situation becomes even more urgent in the face of formidable challenges that we have to deal with.
They include the persistent challenge of global financial and economic uncertainty.
The impact of climate change and the high price of oil.
The threat of a food crisis and the frequent visitations of natural disasters.
The impact of these challenges has been particularly severe in our part of the world.
Hence, we must ensure that these multi-faceted, multi-dimensional and inter-connected challenges and crises do not derail the gains we have made toward our MDGs.
Partnership among all countries: North and South, West and East, large and small, developed and developing, is essential.
All of us must thus ensure the attainment of development and equitable prosperity for all.
We must contribute to the achievement of global prosperity.
We must persevere in unleashing the potentials of nations to enhance the welfare and living standards of their peoples.
In this regard, we in Indonesia have seen how South-South and Triangular Cooperation can help us achieve this goal.
Thus, our commitment for such cooperation has taken roots from the early years of our independence.
The Asia-Africa Conference of 1955 laid the foundation of Indonesia’s role in the pursuit of South-South Cooperation.
The Asia-Africa Conference of 2005, fifty years later, underscored the importance of this mechanism in the drive of the South toward prosperity.
Indonesia has therefore launched many initiatives at technical cooperation among developing countries to increase their capacities in various areas.
Most notably, our programs have focused on agriculture, fisheries, microfinance, disaster management and poverty alleviation – issues of direct relevance to the welfare of the people.
Our immediate attention to the welfare aspect is also reflected by the subject areas of the 6 programmes that we are launching this morning.
These include training programmes and workshops on post-harvest agricultural technology, water management programme, and public-private partnership.
And in this regard, the increasing number of requests that Indonesia has received from various developing countries for our capacity building programs is indeed a heartening development.
As we believe that we can contribute – through sharing of experiences, best practices and technical knowhow.
Indonesia has also established a number of platforms that could facilitate developing countries to plan and execute technical cooperation among themselves.
These platforms include, among others, the Non-Aligned Movement Center for South-South Technical Cooperation (NAM-CSSTC) in Jakarta, the Jakarta Center for Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC) in Semarang, the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) in Bali, and the recently established Indonesia Peace and Security Center in Sentul.
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I believe there are three reasons why South-South and Triangular Cooperation works best for the cause of development.
First, South-South and Triangular Cooperation serves as a model for genuine global partnership for development.
This is because prosperity should be enjoyed by all.
The global development agenda belongs to all humankind.
It is not only for the North. Nor is it only for the South.
All stakeholders must therefore be committed to the Agenda.
Of course, each nation is responsible for its own development.
But it is also the responsibility of all developing countries to share their experiences and best practices with one another.
Our development partners should also be committed to facilitating these efforts.
Thus a triangular partnership is formed that builds trust and confidence.
A partnership that is founded on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.
Second, South-South and Triangular Cooperation can bring about more transparency and accountability.
Indonesia’s own experiences show how transparency and accountability can be approached as a home-grown process, without any interference.
Among others, this was reflected from our experience in rebuilding Aceh and Nias after the devastating tsunamis in 2004.
Thus, the need for financial resources and the imperative of transparency and good governance can be upheld at the same time.
That is why we in Indonesia adopted the Jakarta Commitment on aid effectiveness.
This reflects our adherence to transparency, to accountability, to good governance and eradication of corruption in the implementation of our national development agenda.
Parts of that agenda have to be implemented in partnership with developed countries. Yet, these are purely on our own initiatives. Hence our partnerships with developed countries are genuine and truly of mutual benefit.
And third, South-South and Triangular Cooperation can be precisely tailored to the needs of each developing country.
Because developing countries face similar challenges, their sharing of experiences can be particularly enlightening and fruitful.
Thus the resulting cooperation is country-specific. Not donor-driven.
That will bring about developing countries become more self-reliant. And become more creative in solving their development challenges on the basis of their own aspirations, values and needs.
For these reasons, we are confident that South-South and Triangular Cooperation is particularly effective in the promotion of the development agenda.
South-South and Triangular Cooperation should therefore be reinvigorated so that it can play a key role in the attainment of development goals, notably the MDGs.
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our event today is more than simply to mark the launching of our South-South Cooperation Programs for 2012.
We also reaffirm our partnership and cooperation toward a better life for all humankind.
To unleash the full potentials of the South-South Cooperation in the acceleration of development in the global South.
And to make sure that the developing world is part of the solution to the global development agenda. That the developing world can advance concrete initiatives among themselves for the cause of common good.
It is therefore my honour and distinct pleasure for me to declare the following Indonesia’s South-South and Triangular Cooperation programmes, namely:
• the Indonesia’s South-South and Triangular Cooperation Forum,
• the publications on Indonesian’s Technical Cooperation Capacities,
• the International Training Programme on Post-Harvest Technologies on Fruits and Vegetables,
• the International Training Programme on Water Management for African Countries,
• the Workshop on the Strengthening of Technical Cooperation through Public-Private Partnership, and
• the Dissemination of Implementing Agencies’ Facilities to Development Partners.
officially open.
I thank you.