Keynote Speech by

Dr. N Hassan Wirajuda
Minister for Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia

At the Opening Session of The Conference and Workshop on Promoting Initiatives on Disaster Risk Management

Jakarta, 5 August 2008

Honourable Rick Barker, Minister of Civil Defence of New Zealand,
Honourable Fran Wilde, Chair of the Wellington Regional Council,
Excellency Phillip Gibson, Ambassador of New Zealand to Indonesia,
Excellency Amris Hassan, Ambassador Indonesia to New Zealand,
Bapak Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Director of the National Executing Agency for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for Aceh and Nias,
Distinguished Guests and Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted and privileged to welcome the Honourable Minister Barker and the New Zealand delegation to Indonesia. I am also pleased to welcome all participants to this important event commemorating the fiftieth year of diplomatic relations between New Zealand and Indonesia.

It is entirely appropriate and wise that we should make the golden anniversary of our diplomatic relations truly meaningful by deliberating intensively on how we can work together to promote disaster risk management in our region. By doing so, we will not only be serving the welfare of New Zealanders and Indonesians— we will also be contributing to the long-term security, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region.

Disaster risk management requires bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation since natural disasters, like earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, cyclones and volcanic eruptions, respect no borders. No country is immune to natural disasters. Our region is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters because it is in the Pacific ring of fire.

Both New Zealand and Indonesia must therefore be prepared for such dire possibilities. Our Governments are called upon to empower our communities and make them resilient in the face of the ever present and real danger of natural disasters. For this purpose, we must devise strategies, pass legislation, marshal resources, build infrastructures and develop effective and appropriate operational procedures.

Thus at the first Indonesia-New Zealand Joint Ministerial Commission meeting in 2006, our two countries agreed to boost cooperation in the management of natural disasters. And at the meeting between the New Zealand Trade and Defence Minister and the Indonesian Defence Minister in 2007, it was also agreed that we focus on the management of emergency relief in the event of a natural disaster.

 I therefore commend the Natural Hazard of New Zealand (NHNZ), the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) and the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington for organizing this conference and workshop. Here, you have brought together New Zealand and Indonesian expertise, experience, skills and approaches in managing post-disaster reconstruction in Aceh and Nias. I hope this gathering will find ways of making good use of them.

To a considerable extent, we in Indonesia have put to good use the experience we gained from dealing with natural disasters. In this regard, I am pleased to tell you that that Indonesia has passed Law No. 24/2007 on Disaster Management and issued Government Regulation No. 22/2008 on Disaster Aid Funding and Management, and Government Regulation No. 23/2008 on Participation of NGOs in Disaster Management.

We have also upgraded the National Coordinating Board on Disaster Management into a National Disaster Management Agency. We are continuously improving our early warning system and cultivating a disaster management culture among our people. These developments should be of interest to all who are concerned with natural disasters in both New Zealand and Indonesia.

I trust that this meeting will yield recommendations on how the two countries could cooperate in disaster risk management.  I am sure that this will be the beginning of a very meaningful bilateral engagement in the field of disaster risk management.

Of course, we have worked together before in managing the aftermath of a natural disaster. Indeed, I would be remiss if I did not seize the opportunity to recall here the role that New Zealand played in Indonesia’s efforts to cope and dealing with that unprecedented natural catastrophe.

When an earthquake and tsunami struck Aceh and Nias, North Sumatera on 26 December 2004, New Zealand was among the first to respond to the tragedy— quickly dispatching two aircraft, a team of 30 medical personnel and 113 relief workers to the disaster sites. That quick response saved many lives. The New Zealand contingent evacuated survivors, distributed food and vital supplies and helped bring over Australian military personnel to reinforce the rescue and relief work.

Soon after the tragedy, New Zealand, through its International Aid and Development Agency, allocated NZ$20 million over a five-year period for a tsunami aid package. Thus today New Zealand remains deeply involved in the massive reconstruction and rehabilitation programme in Aceh and Nias.

We in Indonesia are deeply grateful for all that New Zealand has done to help the victims of the tsunami and to rebuild the devastated communities. We will never forget the act of solidarity that New Zealand extended to us when we needed it most.

Our cooperation, of course, is not limited to dealing with natural disasters. It is a broadly gauged cooperation that has spanned five decades and has been fruitful and mutually beneficial.

The fact is that friendship between New Zealand and Indonesia antedates the establishment of our formal diplomatic ties in 1958. For instance, as early as 1948, the Government of New Zealand gave full support to Indonesia’s successful bid for membership on the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE).

And in 1949, the then New Zealand Prime Minister Sydney Holland, in a message conveyed to Prime Minister Mohammad Hatta during the hand-over of Indonesian sovereignty from the Netherlands, warmly welcomed Indonesia into the family of nations. He also expressed the hope that our two countries would soon launch friendly and cooperative relations.

In the years that immediately followed the establishment of our diplomatic relations, our cooperation was focused on education, culture and health. Among the very first undertakings of our cooperation was a training programme for Indonesia’s English language teachers in the framework of the Colombo Plan.

On the economic front, our bilateral trade has been growing and rose 19 percent to NZ$1.7 billion in May 2008 compared with the same month in 2007. While I am pleased with that figure, I am also sure there is plenty of room for growth. I look forward to New Zealand and Indonesia, together with Australia, concluding negotiations on a free trade agreement that will boost our trade relations.

During the past five decades, New Zealand extended substantial development assistance to Indonesia, thereby becoming an important partner in development cooperation. We in Indonesia greatly appreciate New Zealand’s decision to increase its bilateral development assistance to NZ$13 million for a two-year period starting from 2007, as announced at the Indonesia-New Zealand Joint Ministerial Commission meeting in 2006.

In the field of security and defence, I am very much heartened that our two countries are working closely together in the fight against terrorism and related crimes. Cooperation between our police authorities has been very effective.

As peace-loving nations, we have been working together in holding and promoting dialogue to foster harmony among faiths, cultures and civilizations. Together with Australia and the Philippines, we have been co-sponsoring the annual Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue. This is another shared contribution of ours to the cause of peace, stability and prosperity in our region.

We have been working closely together in the field of culture through exchanges of art and culture missions. We have also made use of our tourism industries as a way of fostering cultural exchanges and people-to-people contacts. As a result there has been significant growth in our understanding of each other’s way of life, traditions and customs.

I am also glad that New Zealand has been playing an active role in regional and multilateral initiatives aimed at promoting peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. Both our Governments are deeply involved in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the South West Pacific Dialogue and the East Asia Summit.

This does not mean that we agree on every issue. Each of our two countries has its own set of perspectives and world view. But we are both democracies that adhere faithfully to universal values and the principles and ideals enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. Basically that explains the strength and durability of our bilateral friendship and cooperation.

Moreover, our friendship is regularly boosted by exchanges of visits between our leaders and officials. In 2001, then President Abdurrahman Wahid visited New Zealand. In turn Prime Minister Helen Clark visited Jakarta the following year.

In 2005, H.E. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono paid a state visit to New Zealand, during which the Indonesia-New Zealand Joint Ministerial Commission was established. That visit launched a new chapter in the history of our bilateral relations, as our two leaders agreed to revive the joint commission forum between our two countries.

Not long after that, at the end of 2006, New Zealand resumed its defence cooperation with Indonesia. And our overall cooperation has gained remarkable momentum since then.

For half a century, we have been laying a strong foundation for our relations. It is now time to build a strong edifice on that foundation. We owe that to our peoples and our future generations.

It has been a splendid half century for New Zealand-Indonesia relations. I am sure that the next half century will even be better.

In this spirit, I now declare the Conference and Workshop on Promoting Disaster Risk Management open.

Thank you.