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Austria celebrates 61st National Day, ties with Indonesia
Congratulations: Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Asman Abnur (right) chats with Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia Helene Steinshausl at a celebration of Austria’s National Day at the Hotel Indonesia Kempinski on Tuesday
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span class="inline inline-center">Congratulations: Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Asman Abnur (right) chats with Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia Helene Steinshausl at a celebration of Austria’s National Day at the Hotel Indonesia Kempinski on Tuesday.(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
The long distance between Austria and Indonesia does not seem to hamper efforts of the two countries to build their relationship. After bringing the famed Vienna Boys Choir to Jakarta, the embassy aims to facilitate more scholarships for Indonesians.
“Even though Indonesia and Austria are situated more than 10,000 kilometers apart from each other, our two countries enjoy excellent bilateral relations,” the Austrian ambassador to Indonesia, Helene Steinshausl, said as she addressed guests at Austrian National Day celebrations on Tuesday.
She said bilateral relations between Indonesia and Austria were particularly strong in trade and investment, university cooperation and interfaith and intercultural dialogue.
“It is my firm intention to further enhance cooperation in other sectors including in political, economic and cultural sectors as well as concerning people to people contacts,” she said .
The ambassador said that to promote Austrian culture and tradition, the famous Austria-based choir ensemble Vienna Boys Choir had performed in Jakarta.
The Choir showed off their angelic voices at Ciputra Artpreneur Theater in South Jakarta on Oct. 15-16 as part of their Bella Italia (Beautiful Italy) tour.
Ambassador Steinshausl said the Austrian and Indonesian universities had a strong network of good cooperation among its academicians.
“We are very happy to have almost 200 Indonesian students in Austrian universities,” she said. To increase the number of post graduate scholarships, another agreement with the Indonesian government was signed a few weeks ago, she added.
The Republic of Austria celebrated its 61st National Day, referred to as the Declaration of Neutrality Day, on Oct. 26. The public holiday was enacted in 1955 in commemoration of the day in which Austria declared itself to be permanently neutral in terms of its constitution and in international law.
Nevertheless, Austria has participated in occasional UN peacekeeping and humanitarian missions such as the Kosovo Force, the EU Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
Austrian-Indonesian relations were formally established in 1954.
Steinshausl said Austria was eager to increase economic cooperation, among others areas, through investment in Indonesia.
In the “flourishing” economic relations, she said, “trade bilateral volume reached €40 million in 2015 — this is more than Rp 6.5 trillion.”
“This figure reflects our strong business relationship but we think there is a potential for much stronger growth in the future,” she said.
According to the Trade Ministry, Indonesia suffered a trade deficit of US$286 million in 2015 with total trade figures between Indonesia and Austria worth $345 million.
The value of Indonesian exports to Austria in 2015 reached $29 million, while imports reached $316 million.
Total trade reached $226 million in the first half of 2016, a 5.85 percent increase in trade numbers from the same period in 2015.
Austria mainly exports machinery, electronic equipment, steel and pharmaceuticals, while it imports footwear, textiles and coffee from Indonesia. (sha)
