On this auspicious day of the French National Day, I would
On this auspicious day of the French National Day, I would like to recall that the French Revolution's universal message of freedom inspired many peoples' struggles for their own independence, among them Indonesia. Thanks to a number of very important reforms, this country is now on the way to completing its democratic transition: the president and vice president will, for the first time, be directly elected next year, there will be a new set of legislative institutions, a new law on political parties has been adopted and a constitutional court will soon be created. Let me assure you that France is as committed as ever to support Indonesia in its endeavors to consolidate democracy, preserve its national integrity in the respect of human rights and reinvigorate its economy.
I would also like to stress that concerning our bilateral relations, there are no matters in dispute. Regarding the most important events which took place on the international scene in the last months, I am pleased to note that French and Indonesian positions were quite similar. The recent visit of the Indonesian foreign affairs minister, M. Hassan Wirayuda, to Paris on July 4, which will have a follow-up with the French junior minister of foreign affairs coming to Jakarta at the end of this month, bore testimony to the excellence of relations between our two countries.
Presently, there are over 100 French companies operating in Indonesia, most of them having set up their activities before the crisis years but having decided to weather the difficult transition period in their trust of the potential of the Indonesian market.
The commitment seems to have paid off, since most of the French companies are already back to their pre-crisis level of activities and that new French investments have started to flow into Indonesia since 2001. Actually, according to BKPM figures, excluding the oil and gas sector in which TotalFinaElf has been a leading operator for years, France has been the largest investor to Indonesia in 2002 (while remaining at the 7th rank for consolidated FDIs).
Trade between France and Indonesia is still very much in favor of Jakarta, with Indonesian exports outranking French sales by a 2 to 1 margin, although French products are increasingly successful, not only in the traditional areas of capital equipment machinery and technology (energy, transportation, health), but also in the newly consumer-driven market for upscale fashion, cosmetics, design, telecommunications, automotive and food products.
Cooperation between France and Indonesia in the cultural, scientific and technical fields is now experiencing steady development. The number of agreements between universities of both countries is constantly increasing. Indonesian students more frequently choose France to continue their studies. Regular exchanges are taking place between French and Indonesian experts in such fields as constitutional law, judicial system, decentralization and financial law.
At the cultural level, the annual French film festival is a privileged event which allows recent French productions to become available for the Indonesian public and thus partakes of the dialog between cultures underlying our cooperation policy.
Lastly, there are our four cultural centers (Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Surabaya) which offer a diverse set of programs that encourage exchanges between creative people from our two countries.(KBP)
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