Address by
H.E. Mr S. Wiryono
Ambassador of the
Republic of Indonesia to Australia

At the Annual Dinner of the NSW Division Committee of
The Association of Consulting Engineers
Australia
Sydney, 27 June 1996

Chairman of the NSW Division of The Association of Consulting Engineers (ACEA), Mr Malcolm Lehmann,
Mr Dick Keill.
Mr Geoff Crittenden.
Members of the NSW Division. Ladies and Gentlemen.

Let me begin by thanking the Committee for the kind invitation to be the guest of honour and speaker at this evening's Annual Dinner. It is indeed gratifying, so recently after my arrival, to meet with such an important group of people. I must also thank the Association for today's delightful and informative tour of the Olympic Games site at Homebush. Indeed, wherever I go in Australia I meet with not only interesting people but with people who are interested in Indonesia and keen on developing cooperation.

As the representative of a nation that is continuing to develop its economy, an economy that has achieved remarkable, substantial and valuable progress over the past twenty-five years, I need to be ever alert and watchful of the many opportunities for possible cooperation between Australia and Indonesia. Therefore I relish this opportunity tonight to address your distinguished Association and to also mingle with you and hear your views, as I believe the engineering field is now one of the most important, and will continue to be one of the most important cooperative areas in our relationship.

Relationships between nations, especially in the economic field are now being primarily conducted by the private sector with governments providing the necessary framework. As Paul Keating told the Indonesia Australia Business Council early last week (I quote) " ... the tone of the relationship at the government to government level is very important in giving businesses the confidence they need to invest and to prepare for long-term involvement". In addition. Mr Keating also stressed that Indonesia "... had an enormous opportunity to learn from Australia's past mistakes and bypass whole generations of technology ... by leapfrogging from a number of basic levels of services or technologies into those which (are) used in Australia without going through the intermediate courses". He specifically mentioned Australian companies as having the capacity to help Indonesia's telecommunications, sewerage and waste treatment industries.

The private sector is indeed playing an all the more important role in the development of the relationship between an industrialised country such as Australia and a developing country such as Indonesia. In this context therefore. I feel it is not only the duty of an Ambassador to conduct government to government relations but to promote the various relationships we have already established between the people and institutions of our two countries.

Despite there being an undeniably huge gap between the stages of economic development of Australia and Indonesia,, the economies can complement each other and therefore economic interaction is not only possible but desirable. Each year, more and more Australian companies are reaching out to new markets and venturing into new investment areas, including, of course, Indonesia.

The Indonesian Government. realising that the private sector wants to and needs to take a greater role in the national economy, is committed to continually improving the business and investment climate for both foreign and domestic investors. This will be accomplished through the introduction of further deregulation and de-bureaucratisation packages which will open-up Indonesia's economy to foreign investors. The latest of these deregulation packages, but by no means the last, was issued earlier this month. This package has removed surcharges on imports of capital equipment and reduced tariffs on 1,497 other items. The private sector is now able to form joint ventures with government enterprises to operate bonded zones and warehouses.

Indonesia's Co-ordinating Minister for Investment Promotion, Mr Sanyoto said during his visit last week that, " ... to sustain the growth pace Indonesia needs to invest $US360 billion over the next five years (and) some 70 percent of that amount will have to come from the private sector.,),) Mr Sanyoto also mentioned that there are a number of investment opportunities open to foreign investors. Of particular interest this evening to Association members would be the need for infrastructure development such as in toll roads, telecommunications,' electric power generation and distribution. ports, the list goes on. To all engineers here this evening, Indonesia can benefit greatly from your vast expertise. knowledge and technology. The opportunities for you in return are endless and whilst competition is stiff, I believe that the geographical proximity and the quality of Australia's engineering capability give Australia an advantage. In fact, Indonesia's Research and Technology Minister, Dr Habibie greatly regrets that he only visited Australia last year. Realising that the technology he thought was usually found in Europe is also available here in Australia has led to and will continue to lead to substantial cooperation in this field.

From what I have said up until this point, it appears that there is only one aspect to the relationship. As you would be aware however. there are many other exciting areas that are being promoted and strengthened and these areas are rapidly gaining in momentum.

Cultural and educational relations between Australia and Indonesia are flourishing. Our cultural and historical backgrounds, even though vastly different, provide us with the impetus to further our knowledge of each other. We have to recognise that we are uniquely different and learn and grow from this element of difference.

One of the most important ways of fostering our cultural links is through tourism. In 1995, Australians travelling to Indonesia increased by 62 percent whilst Indonesians visiting Australia increased by 29 percent. This upsurge is wonderful and what is even more exciting is that many Australians are wanting to discover the charms of Indonesia's eastern and remote areas. The Embassy is regularly asked to provide people with brochures on such areas as Kalimantan and East Nusa Tenggara. In turn, Indonesians are choosing to visit Perth more than any other tourist destination in the world. Such exchange of visits at the grassroots level occasions goodwill, mutual understanding and opportunities for cooperation in other fields.

Education is also an ever-growing and valuable field for mutual cooperation. Currently, an increasing number of Indonesian students are choosing to study in Australia and this has been the pattern for many years now. Australia is the first choice among Indonesian students who wish to study abroad due not only to geographical proximity, but more importantly to the high standards of Australia's tertiary institutions. These students, also Indonesia's future generation of business and government leaders. take away with them memories of a pleasant and fruitful chapter of their lives and friendships forged whilst in Australia will certainly contribute to the strengthening and deepening of the relations between our two countries. Many Australians are now either studying Bahasa Indonesia here in your venerable institutions or taking the opportunity to partake in language and business courses in Indonesia. Either way. we deeply appreciate such a sensitivity and responsiveness to our culture.

In conclusion. the relationship between our two countries is excellent. These relations in various areas have been growing throughout the decades and are ever-expanding, ever-deepening and mutually beneficial. I believe that geography has made Australia and Indonesia neighbours and economic and security interests have made us partners so what nature and necessity have united, we should nurture carefully. I would like to thank the ACEA for its generous hospitality both today and this evening. I extend this appreciation to include my wife, the Sydney Consul Mr Widjaja Sugarda and his wife. I now look forward to discussion time.