Coffee brings Indonesia and Romania closer

Coffee brings Indonesia and Romania closer

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Bela Lugosi's famous introduction to film audiences, "I -- am --
Drac -- ula...", the brutal communist regime in Bucharest and
soccer legend Georghe Hagi are some of the things that come to
mind upon mention of Romania.

So, what causes many Romanians to think every day about
Indonesia?

One could hazard a guess that the answer is the tourist
paradise of Bali.

But, "No, it's coffee from Indonesia. Most Romanians drink
Indonesian coffee everyday, and know that it has come from this
beautiful country," Romania's Ambassador to Indonesia Gheorghe
Savuica told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta.

In an exclusive interview with the Post in connection with his
country's National Day, Ambassador Savuica said that Romanians
had been celebrating their National Day every December 1 since
the 1989 December Revolution -- when they overthrew the brutal
communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. But the Dec. 1 National
Day has nothing to do with the revolution.

"Exactly 86 years ago (1918) on this day, Transylvania and
Banat joined Romania through a historic vote by the Great
Assembly of Alba Iulia. That moment marked the union of all
Romanians into a single state and achieved Romanian nation --
state's unity," Savuica, a veteran diplomat who speaks fluent
Bahasa Indonesia, English and Russia, said.

Besides coffee, Indonesia exports natural rubber, margarine,
shortening, polycarbon and furniture to Romania -- a country of
22 million people in Eastern Europe. Indonesian investors have
also invested around US$10 million in three Romanian companies.

For its part, Romania -- which earned the status of a
functional economy from the European Union (EU) -- exports
machinery, chemicals, metallurgy oil, and gas drilling and mining
equipment. Bucharest has agreed to build a 2x50 megawatt coal-
fired power plant in Asam-Asam, South Kalimantan.

Romania, a NATO member and would be member of the EU (2007),
is set to post an impressive 8 percent economic growth in 2004,
while Indonesia may experience economic growth of between 4 and 5
percent.

But it seems there is enormous room for improvement in
boosting these economic ties, given the two countries' potential.

"We have signed several memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in
various areas. We have invited various Indonesian delegations
from the Ministry of Transportation, Office of the State Minister
of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises, the National
Resilience Institute (LEMHANAS), Financial Transaction Reports
Analysis Center (PPATK) and National Atomic Energy Agency
(BATAN)," he said, while agreeing that these efforts boosted
trade figures tremendously this year.

Romania may be a small nation -- a distant land for the people
of this country -- and its bilateral trade with Indonesia has not
reached the US$100 million mark, but its close relations with
Indonesia are unique in nature, Savuica, who has worked with all
Indonesian presidents except Sukarno, said.

He added that he admires the friendliness and tolerance of
Indonesians.

"Our relations are growing at a tremendous pace. Our political
relations reached their zenith after our leaders met three times
on different occasions since 2002 to boost bilateral
cooperation," Savuica said, referring to the first meeting
between former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and Romanian
President Ion Iliescu in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002; the
second, when Megawati visited Romania in 2003; and the last, in
Jakarta when Iliescu paid a state visit to Indonesia in February
2004.

"Last month, Iliescu sent a warm message of congratulations to
newly elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and wished him
success in his new mission," Savuica, a veteran in the art of
diplomacy, who specializes in Indonesian affairs, said.

He mentioned that his country, like Indonesia, had on Nov. 28
held its national general election, including the election of its
president, without any problems.

Partial results showed on Tuesday the ruling Social Democratic
Party (PSD) of Prime Minister Adrian Nastase a whisker ahead of
the opposition centrist Justice and Truth Alliance in Sunday's
election -- but the party is well short of a majority in
parliament.

"Whoever wins in this election, the basic tenets of our
foreign policy will not change, and it will not have any impact
on Romania's relations with Indonesia. Because, both the ruling
and opposition parties do not have any major differences over
foreign policy," he said.

Savuica is optimistic about future relations.

"With confidence in the strength of the Romanian-Indonesian
relationship, I am sure that our two countries, committed to
democratic values, will find new avenues to further consolidate
their ties of understanding and mutual support," he said.