President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono left Jakarta for New Delhi on Monday, kicking off a one-week trip to India and the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
The trip is the President’s first international trip this year after taking up the ASEAN chairmanship.
Yudhoyono was invited by Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil to be the chief guest at the commemoration of India’s Republic Day on Wednesday. The invitation is a prestigious one, and an acknowledgement of Indonesia’s growing international influence, Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Biren Nanda said.
Since 1950, Republic Day commemorations have been attended by high-profile foreign guests selected based on India’s strategic economic and political interests. President Sukarno was the chief guest at the commemoration in 1950.
In 2010 it was South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
Before departing from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta, Yudhoyono said his trip to India would be about attracting investment and boosting bilateral trade, with officials and businesspeople from both sides slated to sign memorandum of understandings worth US$15 billion.
The President said Monday he would meet a number of India’s leading figures, including leaders of the governing coalition and opposition, before attending a business forum with 500 leading businesspeople.
“We are planning for 16 MoU signings with officials and businesspeople. The value of investments covered by the MoUs will be around $15 billion, and will include cooperation in infrastructure, natural resources and services. Most of the investments will be outside of Java,” Yudhoyono said.
Indonesian Institute program director Adinda Tenriangke Muchtar said that India’s prestigious invitation and huge investments in Indonesia indicated that India was placing its trust in Indonesia.
“We can also learn from India’s nuclear plants and technology, as well as enhance our person-to-person relations, aside from economic ties,” she said.
Gadjah Mada University visiting professor Nasir Tamara said Indonesia could learn a lot from India, including how a country plagued with ethnic and religious conflicts could achieve 10 percent economic growth.
“We should do better because we don’t have mounting problems like India is facing. We should
prioritize development of a strong manufacturing sector like India, not just extractive industries based on mining and commodities. We should increase our capability to create technology. A country can’t advance unless it can develop its own technology,” he said.
Pelita Harapan University’s School of Social and Political Sciences dean Alexius Jemadu said Indonesia and India should work together to maintain the stability of the region and to ensure economic growth.
“For India, Indonesia is seen as a partner to balance China’s influence,” he said.
Yudhoyono, who will be one of the keynote speakers at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, said he would voice the interests of developing countries at the forum.
“The timing is right because we are now the ASEAN chair and we will host the East Asia Summit of 18 large countries. As the leader of a developing country, I will use the opportunity to voice the concerns of developing countries.”
Yudhoyono said he would also meet with world leaders at the forum, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, former US president Bill Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair.
