Country Profile : Finland
\nPublication date: December 6
\nApproval Date: December 3<\/p>\n
Message from the Ambassador of Finland<\/p>\n
Finland and Indonesia are very different countries and far
\naway from each other, but they also have a few things in common.<\/p>\n
Both countries have a lot of islands, Indonesia mainly large
\nand Finland small. And large parts of both countries are covered
\nby forests. Both countries also have a lady President.<\/p>\n
The relations between our two countries are longstanding.
\nDiplomatic relations were established in 1954 and since 1974
\nthere has been a resident Finnish Ambassador in Jakarta.
\nSoon after that Indonesia established her Embassy in Helsinki.
\nAs a protocol officer at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, I
\nlearned to know from the very beginning the first Indonesian
\ndiplomats in Helsinki and at the same time I was able to learn
\nabout this beautiful country, about its smiling and friendly
\npeople and about the huge variety of its culture.<\/p>\n
The economic relations between Finland and Indonesia were
\nespecially strong in the 1990s when Indonesia was building and
\nmodernizing her forest industry and Finnish companies were main
\nsuppliers of machinery to the pulp and paper mills. We have
\nalready for several years had a fruitful cooperation in the
\nforestry field and in the framework of the agreement on economic
\nand technological cooperation we have a common working group
\nconcentrating on forestry. We also have had meetings at the
\nministerial level. One of our leading forestry companies has made
\na sizable plantation investment in West-Kalimantan. These days we
\nconcentrate more and more on the sustainable development also in
\nthe forestry sector shifting the emphasis towards environmental
\nprotection and conservation as well as reforestation programs.<\/p>\n
When the share of the forest machinery sector in our trade has
\ndeclined, the telecommunications sector has taken over. I assume
\nthat most of the people of Indonesia know Nokia but they do not
\nnecessarily know that the company is originally from Finland and
\nhas its headquarters in Finland. As a homeland of Nokia it may
\nbe only natural that the World Economic Forum has ranked Finland
\nnumber one in its Global Information Technology Report 2002-2003.
\nFinland was placed in the lead on the grounds that the Finnish
\npublic, the business community and public authorities have the
\nhighest state of readiness for the use and application of
\ninformation and communication technology which are among the most
\npowerful prerequisites for economic growth, particularly at a
\ntime of worldwide economic slowdown.<\/p>\n
The Finnish exports to Indonesia in general during the past
\nfew years have not developed in a satisfactory way. After several
\nyears of downward development the latest figures from this year
\nshow, however, a slight increase in our exports. I am sure that
\nthere is a lot of exploitable potential that should be taken into
\nuse but we have to discover Indonesia again. At the same time
\nIndonesia has done better and the Indonesian exports to Finland
\nhave shown a continuous and steady growth. The trade balance
\nbetween our two countries is now clearly in favor of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
As a member of the European Union and as a participant in the
\ninternational donor community Finland has continued to support
\nIndonesia and we intend to do so also in the future. Our main
\ntargets have been to promote good governance and support the
\nbuilding of civil society. We also want to see a sustainable
\ndevelopment in this country. Building democracy and introducing
\nreforms are not an easy tasks.<\/p>\n
We in Finland are great admirers of Indonesian culture and
\nduring the past few years there have been several occasions when
\nwe have been able to enjoy the performances of Indonesian
\nartists. At the same time Finland has also brought artists to
\nIndonesia. Right now we have in Jakarta an exhibition on poster
\nart in Finland and we hope to be able to arrange more cultural
\nevents here. The best way to overcome suspicions and wrong ideas
\nabout other cultures and religions is to learn more about them.<\/p>\n
I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the
\nmany friends of Finland who have made an invaluable contribution
\nto our bilateral relations and wish the Finnish community in
\nIndonesia as well as all readers of The Jakarta Post a happy and
\npeaceful holiday season.<\/p>\n
Markku Niinioja
\nAmbassador of Finland<\/p>",
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