Country Profile : Finland

Country Profile : Finland
Publication date: December 6
Approval Date: December 3

Message from the Ambassador of Finland

Finland and Indonesia are very different countries and far
away from each other, but they also have a few things in common.

Both countries have a lot of islands, Indonesia mainly large
and Finland small. And large parts of both countries are covered
by forests. Both countries also have a lady President.

The relations between our two countries are longstanding.
Diplomatic relations were established in 1954 and since 1974
there has been a resident Finnish Ambassador in Jakarta.
Soon after that Indonesia established her Embassy in Helsinki.
As a protocol officer at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, I
learned to know from the very beginning the first Indonesian
diplomats in Helsinki and at the same time I was able to learn
about this beautiful country, about its smiling and friendly
people and about the huge variety of its culture.

The economic relations between Finland and Indonesia were
especially strong in the 1990s when Indonesia was building and
modernizing her forest industry and Finnish companies were main
suppliers of machinery to the pulp and paper mills. We have
already for several years had a fruitful cooperation in the
forestry field and in the framework of the agreement on economic
and technological cooperation we have a common working group
concentrating on forestry. We also have had meetings at the
ministerial level. One of our leading forestry companies has made
a sizable plantation investment in West-Kalimantan. These days we
concentrate more and more on the sustainable development also in
the forestry sector shifting the emphasis towards environmental
protection and conservation as well as reforestation programs.

When the share of the forest machinery sector in our trade has
declined, the telecommunications sector has taken over. I assume
that most of the people of Indonesia know Nokia but they do not
necessarily know that the company is originally from Finland and
has its headquarters in Finland. As a homeland of Nokia it may
be only natural that the World Economic Forum has ranked Finland
number one in its Global Information Technology Report 2002-2003.
Finland was placed in the lead on the grounds that the Finnish
public, the business community and public authorities have the
highest state of readiness for the use and application of
information and communication technology which are among the most
powerful prerequisites for economic growth, particularly at a
time of worldwide economic slowdown.

The Finnish exports to Indonesia in general during the past
few years have not developed in a satisfactory way. After several
years of downward development the latest figures from this year
show, however, a slight increase in our exports. I am sure that
there is a lot of exploitable potential that should be taken into
use but we have to discover Indonesia again. At the same time
Indonesia has done better and the Indonesian exports to Finland
have shown a continuous and steady growth. The trade balance
between our two countries is now clearly in favor of Indonesia.

As a member of the European Union and as a participant in the
international donor community Finland has continued to support
Indonesia and we intend to do so also in the future. Our main
targets have been to promote good governance and support the
building of civil society. We also want to see a sustainable
development in this country. Building democracy and introducing
reforms are not an easy tasks.

We in Finland are great admirers of Indonesian culture and
during the past few years there have been several occasions when
we have been able to enjoy the performances of Indonesian
artists. At the same time Finland has also brought artists to
Indonesia. Right now we have in Jakarta an exhibition on poster
art in Finland and we hope to be able to arrange more cultural
events here. The best way to overcome suspicions and wrong ideas
about other cultures and religions is to learn more about them.

I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the
many friends of Finland who have made an invaluable contribution
to our bilateral relations and wish the Finnish community in
Indonesia as well as all readers of The Jakarta Post a happy and
peaceful holiday season.

Markku Niinioja
Ambassador of Finland