TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Russian, Indonesian ties turn 70, and counting
A high level of mutual trust between Moscow and Jakarta creates favorable conditions to further promote military and military-technical cooperation.
Change Size
Let’s talk: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Russia Summit in Singapore in 2018. (Reuters/Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin)
T
he dramatic year is about to come to an end. As we entered it, we had planned a series of events to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Russian-Indonesian diplomatic relations, which were established on Feb.3, 1950.
Regretfully, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected these activities, having forced us to revise those big plans. Nevertheless, such a significant date is a good occasion to both summarize what has been achieved so far and consider further prospects.
Active political dialogue between our two countries have continued to develop. In April, President Vladimir Putin and President Joko Widodo had a telephone conversation to discuss joint measures to combat COVID-19 as a common serious threat.
Later on, Russian company Polysan Ltd delivered to Indonesia medicine for the treatment of patients with severe and moderate forms of coronavirus infection. Now our country is ready to supply the vaccine Sputnik V, which has a 95 percent effectiveness rate.
A high level of mutual trust between Moscow and Jakarta creates favorable conditions to further promote military and military-technical cooperation. Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto visited Russia and attended the military parade dedicated to the 75th Anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.
Inter-parliamentary ties are making headway as well. Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (the Senate), conveyed a congratulatory video message to the Indonesian Regional Representatives Council (DPD) on the occasion of its 16th anniversary. In November, the Russian Parliament ratified the bilateral Intergovernmental Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.
Russian businesses, among them oil and gas giant Rosneft, are involved in major infrastructure projects in Indonesia. There are great opportunities to expand collaboration in the hi-tech sector, such as aircraft manufacturing, information technology, as well as energy, agriculture and biotechnology, and many more.
Despite the pandemic, our trade cooperation has not declined dramatically. It is in our common interest to maintain the existing level of practical cooperation and do whatever is necessary to promote business ties. In the year 2020 we successfully convened a number of Working Groups meetings under the Russian-Indonesian Joint Commission on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation.
We highly value the existing close contacts between the foreign ministries of Russia and Indonesia that are based on identity or similarity of approaches to the key international issues and challenges. The two countries have enjoyed mutually beneficial cooperation within the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
For example, in January we jointly countered the attempts to impose an arms embargo on the Central African Republic; in August, during its presidency in the UNSC, Indonesia, with the help of Russia and other UNSC member countries, did not give in to unprecedented pressure from the United States in an illegal attempt to restore the UN sanctions against Iran with the use of the “snapback” mechanism of UNSC Resolution 2231; in October Indonesia supported Russia’s UNSC presidency priorities, participated in the high-level debates on the situation in the Persian Gulf, among others.
Humanitarian ties have been also strengthening. On Feb. 3, exactly on the jubilee date of diplomatic relations between Russia and Indonesia, the embassy in cooperation with the Indonesian Foreign Ministry held an exhibition themed “Necklace of Equator” consisting of more than 80 paintings by Russian artists as well as an exposition of different official historical documents from the National Archives of Indonesia. In September, the embassy held online competitions on pantun (poem) creation and the reciting of Russian poetry.
Importantly, Russian-Indonesian ties have been gradually developing through all the difficult times, and even the pandemic has been powerless in affecting them. Traditions of friendship, mutual respect, equal dialogue and readiness to help in need create the necessary prerequisites for future expansion and intensification of bilateral cooperation, with a view to officially elevate our partnership to the strategic level.
***
The writer is Russian ambassador to Indonesia.
