JP/Nurhayati
In connection with the Czech Republic’s National Day celebration, which will be held Wednesday, The Jakarta Post’s Veeramalla Anjaiah met with Czech Ambassador Pavel Rezac at his office in Jakarta recently to know more about the rapidly growing ties between the Czech Republic and Indonesia. The following are excerpts from the interview:
Question: What is the present state of relations between the Czech Republic and Indonesia?
Answer: Indonesia and the Czech Republic have a long and fruitful history of bilateral political contacts. Both countries established full diplomatic relations in 1955. In recent years the bilateral relations experienced a dynamic development in the areas of economic as well as political cooperation.
Several bilateral expert missions between both countries took place this year. On top of that, Czech and Indonesian foreign ministers held a meeting this May in Hanoi to discuss bilateral issues. Last week, Czech Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hynek Kmonicek attended the inauguration ceremony of President Susilo Bambang Yudho-yono as a special envoy of the Czech government.
In order to bring the culture of our country closer to the people of Indonesia, the embassy in Jakarta also organized a concert of world-renowned violinist Jaroslav Sveceny at the Jakarta Playhouse (GKJ) in April this year.
Now is a time when both countries are stressing the need for greater bilateral cooperation in the economic field. Could you please throw some light on the growing economic relations?
As the latest and the most tangible example of enhanced bilateral economic cooperation we can
mention the First Meeting of the Joint Economic Committee between the Czech Republic and Indonesia, which was held in Prague in August 2009.
The Indonesian delegation at the meeting was headed by Ambassador Retno L.P. Marsudi, the Foreign Ministry’s director general for American and European Affairs. The meeting was organized as a follow-up to the Agreement on Economic Cooperation between the Czech Republic and Indonesia, which was signed in Jakarta in November 2007.
During their meetings, both delegations agreed about the importance of direct contacts and
cooperation involving governmental and nongovernmental organizations in facilitating exchange
of economic and commercial information, including trade opportunities and investment activities in
particular.
The next meeting of the Joint Economic Committee is planned to be organized in Jakarta in June 2010.
How big was your bilateral trade with Indonesia last year?
According to the data provided by the Czech Statistical Office, the volume of mutual trade almost quadrupled during the last seven years. The total value of our bilateral trade reached a level of
US$315 million in 2007 and a historical high of $326 million in 2008, of which $264 million were Indonesian exports to the Czech Republic while $62 million were Czech exports to Indonesia.
What are your main exports and imports to and from Indonesia?
The main Czech exports to Indonesia are machinery, chemi-cals, electrical and power genera-tion equipment, telecommunications equipment, textile machine tools, paper and powdered milk.
The main Indonesian exports to the Czech Republic are furni-ture, electronic components, textiles and textile products, footwear, automotive components, coffee, cocoa, rubber and rubber products.
How does Indonesia figure in your country’s foreign policy?
Both countries share a common experience of successful transition to democracy. Indonesia celebrated 10 years of the re-establishment of democratic principles last year; our country will soon celebrate 20 years since the “Velvet Revolution”, a pro-democratic peaceful regime change in 1989.
Indonesia today plays a leading role in ASEAN and represents a stabilizing factor in the Southeast Asian region. After the economic turmoil in the late 1990s, the Indonesian economy now relies on a solid basis and is experiencing an impressive growth despite the global economic crisis.
As a member of the G20 and the only ASEAN country included in this crucial international platform for discussions, Indonesia plays an important role of a representative of emerging economies and represents a bridge between traditional world powers and newly established regional players.
What are the major programs planned by the embassy for next year?
As the current example of bilateral programs and cooperation, we can mention the development project aimed at air transportation development in Java with a special focus on the province of Yogyakarta. We also have an urban transportation development project in Central Java and Yogyakarta with a special focus on railway transportation development.
These projects have been implemented by Czech companies under the Czech governmental
development assistance and amount to $277,000 in total. Studies on both projects have been success-fully presented during the Joint Economic Committee in Prague in August.
The major bilateral development project in 2010 will be the rehabilitation of the Lake Tondano area, implemented by a Czech company. The $415,000 project is financed under the Czech governmental development assistance.
The key aspects of the project are lake rehabilitation, inland fisheries and fresh water weed culti-vation, rehabilitation of existing irrigation schemes, flood protection and slope stabilization using geo-textiles.
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|