H.E. DR. MARI ELKA PANGESTU MINISTER OF TRADE OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

Transcription

1 Check Againts Delivery KEYNOTE SPEECH By H.E. DR. MARI ELKA PANGESTU MINISTER OF TRADE OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA At GREEN GROWTH FOR INDONESIA A KNOWLEDGE SHARING SEMINAR WITH SWEDEN JAKARTA, 8 FEBRUARY 2010 H.E. Ewa Björling, Sweden Minister of Trade; H.E. Ewa Polano, Sweden Ambassador; Colleagues from related Ministries The Head of Swedish Trade Council, Private sectors from both Sweden and Indonesia, Friends from the media, Ladies and Gentlemen, Selamat datang ke Indonesia or welcome to Indonesia. First of all, I would like to thank the Swedish Embassy and Sweden Trade Council for inviting me to share my thoughts today on a very important topic Green Growth for Indonesia - A Knowledge Sharing Seminar with Sweden. A concept that is so paramount in today s multipolar world and one that could not be developed nor implemented without total cooperation and full collaborations of all stakeholders both developed and emerging economies. I really appreciate being given the opportunity to share my thoughts on the Green Growth concept in Indonesia, which is something that is a working progress in Indonesia, but we look forward to learning from our Swedish friends because I understand that it is really a very well developed concept and implemented in Sweden. I would like to especially welcome my colleague Trade Minister Ewa Björling who I first 1

2 met at the end of Interestingly enough at an event which is very closely linked to what we are talking about today, a Trade Ministers meeting in Bali, the sidelines of the UNFCC meeting in Bali, to talk about trade and environment. So I am very happy that four years down the road, we are continuing our talks on these very issues and hopefully taking some more complete measures on how we cooperate in these areas. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, The timing of this meeting could not be more perfect. EU is among the oldest dialogue partner of ASEAN, with more than 30 years of formal relationship. And after nearly 3 years of vacuum, last August 2010 in Da Nang,Vietnam during the 9th consultation between the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and the EU Trade Commissioners we have come to an agreement to enhance trade and investment cooperation between ASEAN and the EU through practical activities and exchanged views on trade and investment policies that will support sustainable economic growth. This year, as Chairman of ASEAN, we expect that the relationship will reach new heights. To begin with, Indonesia is prepared to host the ASEAN-EU Business Summit on 5 May 2011 and the 1st AEM EU Trade Commissioner Consultation on 6 May Both meetings reflect strong commitment to further strengthening trade relations and economic cooperation between ASEAN and the EU as well as to enhance business dialogue and investment opportunities in ASEAN and in the EU. Between EU-Indonesia, things are also going positively with the signing of the EU-Indonesia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in November Trade and Investment were front and center in the PCA, with the milestone concluded during the meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in December Both leaders agreed to set up a "Vision Group" that will examine how to enhance economic relationship between Indonesia and the EU to a higher level. The group is well on its second meeting and will deliver its preliminary recommendation in early May 2011 in the format of a strategic vision paper with recommendations to Ministers (including on the potential for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement). Sustainability is a key theme in the cooperation and collaboration between EU and Indonesia and it is well reflected in the working groups and the chosen priority sectors. Take for example, the Working Group on Trade and Investment (WGTI). Their last meeting discussed among other things: (i) Renewable Energy Directive (RED) Directive, Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and (ii) Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Directive: capacity building, partnership cooperation and several market access issues. Another example is the December nd European Union Indonesia Business 2

3 Dialogue (EIBD). The forum came up with recommendations on ways to pave the way towards a comprehensive partnership agreement and to improve regulatory cooperation and technical dialogues. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, EU Asean and EU- Indonesia relations are not the only things that are long and lasting. The relationship and dynamics between Sweden and Indonesia were forged even further back. I was reading the op-ed written H.E. Ewa Bjorling in Jakarta Post yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to learn that trade relationship between Indonesia and Sweden went back as far as Now, that is sustainable indeed. Time has passed and the relationship keeps getting stronger. Currently, total trade between Indonesia and Sweden during the period of January November 2010 was US$ million, representing a slight increase of 2.19% compared to the same period in For the past five years ( ), total trade between the two countries grew by 11.46%. Total Swedish investment in Indonesia during the period of amounted to US$ 1.9 million for 67 projects. Sweden investment ranks 25th in 2010, amounting to US$ 0.2 million and it is for only 2 projects showing the enormous potential to tap between both nations. Ladies and Gentlemen, As I briefly explained the relationship between and dynamics between EU and ASEAN, Indonesia and EU as well as Sweden and Indonesia one theme keep recurring, the theme of sustainability and green growth. The concept of sustainable growth and trade consists of three main pillars namely: environmental, economic, and social aspects. All the pillars must grow in parallel and not separately. One can not only choose to address the environmental aspect of growth, for example, without consideration of its social and economic impacts. This is something that is best described in our inclusive policy, policies that focus on Pro Growth, Pro Birth, Pro Jobs, and Pro Environment. These key themes then translated into Indonesia s National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJM ) ; that...economic growth conducted in ways that is damaging to the natural envrionment will only lead to unsustainable growth. There are almost no governments around the world that would dispute the need to promote environmentally sustainable economic growth for the well-being of all. It is acknowledged that although economic growth has facilitated poverty alleviation and social progress in many parts of the world, rapid increases in industrial and agricultural production, as well as rising levels of consumption, are exerting increasing pressure on the environment as well as exacerbating climate change. This has brought another 3

4 challenges especially for governments of the emerging economies countries, a challenge to find balance between further economic growth to reduce poverty to meet the basic needs of vast and expanding populations and finding ways and means so that the economic and social growth are not done at the expense of environment. But let us not stop at the challenges, as these challenges also presents great opportunities. Opportunities to explore ways to improve our ways to become more efficient, greener, and sustainable. This is where Green Growth can play strategic role, if it is done in a balanced and fair manner emphasizing on the cooperation and collaboration between developed economies that have walked the process and has had the experience and technology to balance between economic, social and environmental growth and the emerging economies, who is now in the process of finding such balance. Ladies and Gentlemen, Indonesia is a firm believer of addressing the aspect of social and economic progress along with attaining the environmental goals. We recognized the importance of improving the economic and social fabric of the nations as a pre-requisite to achieving environmental goals. And we believe that social and economic progress and environmental goals are not mutually exclusive and can be met in parallel without having to sacrifice one another. In fact, we are among the first of the emerging economies that during G20 meeting in 2009, have stated our commitment to reduce CO2 emission as much as 26%. And we emphasized the need for further collaboration, exchange of knowledge and support to this initiative from the international community. In our commitment we have stated that with the help and support of the international community, the target was set to 41% reduction. The initiative did not stop there, in May 2010 Indonesia signed an agreement with Norway to reduce CO2 emission from deforestation and land degradation as well as peat land management. And in December 2010, at the side events of Cancun, Mexico, we signed a cooperation agreement with other developed nations (Japan, Britain, Canada, Norway, etc) and a south to south cooperation with Mexico and South Africa. This shows that while the initiative and commitment were from Indonesia to implement REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), support from international community, as partners in reform, is indispensable. Currently, REDD+ has just completed its preparatory stage, and now enters the transformation stage which we would see activities being implemented beginning in

5 Another example is the case of palm oil. The pressure to find the balance is enormous for this commodity. Initially, the critics were very harsh and often judgmental. It also ignores the fact that palm oil has provided tremendous social and economic benefits to people involved along its production chain, many of whom ( as much as 43%) are smallholders. It also silent on the fact that to find the balance for this sector, it takes cooperation and full collaboration not only from the supplying side (government and private sectors operating in this sector) but also from the consumer s side (private sectors and consumers who bought the product). This slowly changes with the multi stakeholder approach where government facilitates by setting up a small Task force consisting of stakeholders in supply and demand countries, including NGOs and together set up the standards, and stages by taking into account the whole three pillars of sustainable development not just one. And only by working together we can overcome challenges in ways that is transparent, clear, measurable and most importantly, with sustainable progress. Working together to develop and implement such green growth strategies is of benefit to us all. And while the grand plan might looks big but the initiatives do not have to be. It could be very practical, like how do you shower, starts the recycle process from the houshold waste, etc. The new and innovative collaborative 9 approach represents a new development pathway that reconciles economic and social growth with efforts to reduce the negative impact on the environment. Sweden has been known as among the leading countries with the best clean technology. Indonesia has been known as the country that is not afraid to embrace change and is able to turn the table around and emerge as among world s most performing emerging economies despite the global crisis from where we were back in the Asia crisis in mid-1990s. Collaboration and hand holding between Indonesia and Sweden would be both timely and strategic and such should include technology transfers, capacity building and ease of market access. An innovative model must be tried and tested and this is the best time to do it and Indonesia is the best and most reliable partner country to do it with. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, Green growth is not going to materialize without hand holding and close collaboration between developed and emerging economies in the form of technology transfer, capacity building, and market access. Bang Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General recently said in Davos... We only borrow this planet from our grandchildren so we need to take good care of it and leave it in good hand for their future. This statement could not be more true. It takes everyone to save this earth with fingers outstretched and hands open, and nothing could be achieved by pointing fingers to one another. After all, it is our earth together and we are all in the same boat. 5

6 So in conclusion I would like to emphasis how we can work together by way of capacity building, technology transfer and use of market access, and let us think innovatively. There is the G to G component that will be always very important, but there are also the B to B (business to business), G to G (government to government), G to B (government to business) and even P to P (people to people) relationships that we must develop to solve this very big problem on how to achieve Green Growth and ensure environmental sustainability but continue to grow and develop. Green Growth requires full participation of all involved. Blame game, pointing fingers will resolve to nothing. So let us begin today, let us begin with our selves. I really welcome this seminar today with full cooperation and collaboration to continue to develop between Sweden and Indonesia. Hopefully we can both together have green growth for the planet that we are borrowing from our children and grandchildren. Thank you very much. Minister of Trade Republic of Indonesia MARI ELKA PANGESTU 6