JP/15/HASSAN

JP/15/HASSAN

HASSAN WIRAYUDA

What do you expect from the preparatory committee Meeting in
Bali?

The coming preparatory meeting will produce three main
agreements. They are, a plan of action, a political declaration
and initiatives for partnership.

The plan of action is scheduled to be finished in Bali, while
the political declaration will be further finalized in the
upcoming summit in Johannesburg.

We also expect to finalize 73 initiatives for partnership that
will be the concrete measures of the meeting's results.

As the host, we will lead discussions and definitely influence
the three products.

The political declaration will be an important issue as
learning from the past experience of the Rio Summit, we need
political commitment to ensure the implementation of the plan of
action.

However, we fully understand that even in the sustainable
development conference many political agendas of third world
countries, such as foreign occupation, will enter the discussion
and it will be discussed.

The process to decide the four pages of political declarations
will be much more difficult than the other agreements.

Could you explain more on the political declaration

This will not be a discussion on real politics, but to garner
political commitments from all heads of state and heads of
government to implement the plan of action.

Although we are talking about sustainable development there
are always reasons to bring political issues like the Palestinian
cause, India and Kashmir, etc.

Those countries will say that it will be impossible for us to
achieve sustainable development because of war or foreign
occupation.

They will ask, 'how can we avoid poverty when we are still
under those pressures?'

How can you ensure the implementation of the plan of action

The plan of action should be a balanced approach that will not
make some countries allergic to sustainable development. It
should be both idealistic and realistic, unlike the one we
achieved in Rio.

It should also appear in the initiatives for partnerships as
we will go directly to each project that can be achieved through
bilateral and multilateral approaches.

The commitment will not just include traditional players like
the foreign ministry or foreign economic relations, but include
all major stake holders like local government, business community
and civil society.

It is easy for each signatory to cheat on the agreement and it
has happened for the past ten years. There is discrepancy between
the awareness and commitment and in the coming meeting we have to
deal with it.

It will be a very difficult process because we are up against
the strong countries that control 85 percent of economic power.
That is why we have to empower ourselves and be committed to the
rules.

What will are some of the benefits that Indonesia can expect from
this meeting

We serve as a good example of a country that has implemented
unsustainable development. After enjoying an average of 7 to 8
percent growth per year in more then 30 years, our economy
suddenly fell by 21 percent, and we suffered greatly.

The sudden drop in economic growth is not just because of our
own failure to have good governance and democracy, but also
because of inadequate infrastructure.

Debt is a very important issue and it concerns us most. In the
meeting we will discuss better ways of financing sustainable
development. How to get the commitment from developed countries
to increase financial aid.

In many poor and indebted countries, there are reversed
capital flows and mounting debts, just like what happens in our
country.

There are a lot of creative proposals to handle such matters,
not just by debt cuts or eradication, but also debt swaps, like
debt for nature, debt for forest, debt for poor.

As a concept, we are still studying the possibility because
there is an inability of many countries to deal with their debts
and a swap could be one of the ways to deal with it.

The Foreign Ministry will have to ensure that our colleagues
in the government understand the importance of this meeting.

Despite our internal weaknesses, we could point out that there
are an inadequate number of international financial architects.

Many developed countries would say that they are tired of
giving money as it's being taken by corrupt countries, but we can
also say that what we need is direct foreign investment and not a
huge flow of money that could further destabilize our country.

While at the same time we should conduct domestic reform and
ensure good governance.