India wants to build broad-based ties with RI: FM

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, New Delhi | Mon, 02/08/2010 11:01 AM

India and Indonesia are the biggest democracies in Asia and have enjoyed historical economic and cultural links for more than a thousand years. Both countries now have new foreign ministers. India’s new Minister of External Affairs S.M. Krishna, a Fulbright scholar and a veteran politician, gave a written interview to The Jakarta Post’s Veeramalla Anjaiah recently in New Delhi where he talked about the growing strategic ties between India and Indonesia. The following are excerpts of the interview.

Question: What, according to you, could be the most inspiring factor that has kept both countries’ relationship not only stable but has made it stronger today?

Answer: India has enjoyed civil and trade relations with countries of Southeast Asia, in general, and Indonesia, in particular, for nearly 2 millennia. These relations have been further consolidated under India’s ‘Look East Policy’, which signifies our strong resolve to engage with our partners in the ASEAN region.

Both India and Indonesia have been maritime neighbors and strategic partners since 2005. It was in November 2005, during the visit of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, that our countries decided to embark on a New Strategic Partnership. In June 2007, when my predecessor Pranab Mukherjee visited Indonesia, two sides agreed on an action plan to implement the new strategic partnership. This action plan calls for a regular exchange of ministerial visits for exchange of views and expansion of cooperation and activation of existing institutional arrangements between the two countries.

In a nutshell, our relations with Indonesia are rooted in history; characterized by strong civil linkages; and the determination by leadership on both sides to consolidate our relations in the years to come.

How does democratic Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim populous nation, figure in India’s foreign policy?

Being the two largest democracies in Asia, our two countries can play a constructive role in bringing peace, stability and development in our region. As maritime neighbors (the eastern most island in the Andaman and Nicobar chain is separated by only 90 nautical miles from the tip of northern Sumatra), both India and Indonesia together control the entry point from the Indian Ocean to the Bay of Bengal in the north and the Malacca Straits to the east. We jointly conduct coordinated patrols along the international maritime boundary line at the mouth of the Malacca Straits. We also have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in place for cooperation in the area of counterterrorism.

Indonesia has many natural resources and vast economic potential, making it an attractive long-term partner for India. A number of Indian companies have invested in Indonesia since the 1970s.

Indonesia is a key country in the context of our dialogue partnership with ASEAN and our participation in the East Asia Summit. Thus, our relations with Indonesia assume significance in the bilateral as well as regional contexts.

Bilateral trade value reached US$10 billion in 2008, yet it is still not commensurate with both countries’ real economic potential. What measures are to be taken to boost economic ties to rectify this?

The recent period has seen rapidly increasing trade and investment relations with Indonesia, which is currently our third largest trading partner in ASEAN. Our bilateral trade turnover crossed $10 billion in 2008, surpassing the target set for 2010 two years ahead of schedule. This is a very positive development.

At the same time, there is a need to give further impetus to our bilateral economic relations, keeping in view the vast untapped potential. We are taking several measures such as organization of industrial exhibitions, trade and investment promotion activities, discussions on business opportunities and buyer-selling to further promote economic and trade relations between the two countries.

Last year India signed the much-awaited FTA with ASEAN countries. Do you see any difficulties in implementing this FTA with Indonesia?

The ASEAN-India FTA came into force with effect from Jan. 1, 2010. As I understand, India and three ASEAN partners, namely Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, have notified the ASEAN Secretariat of completion of their ratification formalities. Indonesia is still in the process of ratifying the FTA. This is a procedural matter and will be completed as per established domestic requirements in Indonesia. We do not see any difficulties in implementing the FTA with ASEAN and are confident that it will enhance bilateral trade and investment relations in years to come.

Surprisingly, we have new foreign ministers in both countries at the same time. Indonesia has been seeking closer ties with both China and India at bilateral, regional and global levels. How do you see China’s growing influence in ASEAN?

I am very pleased that Indonesia has a very young and dynamic foreign minister, Dr. Marty Natalegawa. I felicitated him when he took over in October 2009 and have invited him to visit India this year for the 4th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Commission. I look forward to his visit that will give us an early opportunity to review the whole gamut of our bilateral relations and the ways to move forward.

Like India, China also has enjoyed a long history of cultural and trade relations with the countries of Southeast Asia. Like India, China is an active dialogue partner of ASEAN. We have common interests in our engagement with the region and believe that as members of the East Asia Summit, we could collectively contribute to the regional development and economic integration in East Asia.

Last but not least, how do you visualize that the Indonesia-India bilateral relations will shape up in the next five years?

Both sides are committed to a speedy implementation of the action plan for the Implementation of the New Strategic Partnership. The action plan provides a good roadmap for further consolidation of our partnership across all areas of cooperation over the next 5-10 years. During the coming years, we will work toward developing a broad-based relationship expanding cooperation in the political, security, economical, science and technology, educational, cultural and people-to-people contacts.