Jakarta, 15 August 2002

Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

          It is both a pleasure and an honour for me to be with you today to speak on behalf of Asean Six, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia at the opening of the IAI Development Cooperation Forum.

          Before anything else, I wish to commend and congratulate our Asean Secretary General and the Asean Secretariat, the officials of member countries who were involved in organizing this important activity, as well as the consultants who participated in two workshops and the Design Mission that formulated some of the project proposals that will be presented in this Forum. Let me also express Asean’s appreciation to Japan for providing the funds for the convening of the two workshops.

I should also like to extend a warm welcome to all participants to this Forum. We regard your presence here as a clear demonstration of the confidence of the dialogue partners and institutions you represent in the efficacy of Asean. It also manifests your interest in the sustainable development and stability not only of the Asean region but also of the larger Asia-Pacific region in which Asean cooperation has a profound impact.

The objective of this Forum is to contribute to the integration of the newer members of Asean with the earlier members by bridging the development gaps between them so that the region as a whole will become more globally competitive and also more effective in everything that it is already doing.

This is in accordance with the decision of our Asean Leaders to launch the Initiative for Asean Integration (IAI) and the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Ha Noi Declaration on Narrowing the Development Gap within Asean. To realize this Initiative, a Work Plan has been formulated, and within the framework of the Work Plan are the projects that are being proposed for the support and cooperation of our dialogue partners and concerned international institutions.

The four areas on which the proposals are focused represent concerns to which Asean has given the highest priority. These are: infrastructures building, human resource development, information and communication technology, and regional economic integration. Asean member countries and the Design Mission submitted project proposals for this purpose. Indonesia’s proposals were in the area of infrastructures, particularly in the transport and energy sub-sectors, considering that we have some expertise to offer in that field. We look forward to development cooperation from dialogue partners and other friends of Asean that can help us put all these proposals on stream.

It is therefore our fervent hope that during the exchange of views following the presentation by the Asean Secretariat, all participants will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Initiative for Asean Integration and the Work Plan devised for its realization. Moreover, we trust that you will be able to recognize in the appropriate proposed projects opportunities in which your country or institution can make a unique and significant contribution.

 Indeed, the Work Plan may well be regarded as a set of opportunities for putting into practice a concept of development cooperation that is not between donor and recipient but between equals in a mutually beneficial partnership. This is the kind of partnership that helped the earlier Asean members rise from the economic stagnation and political turmoil that prevailed in the region when the Association was founded some thirty-five years ago.

Having made good use of the help of dialogue partners and the concerned international institutions, Asean today is credited with enough accomplishments to be recognized globally as a regional organization that plays a stabilizing and catalytic role within its own region as well as in the Asia-Pacific and the world at large.

Today, Asean is very much seized with the need for integration. We are striving for regional economic integration through Afta and the Asean Investment Area. We are working hard to bring about the physical integration of our member countries through infrastructures like road and railway systems, gas and power networks, as well as telecommunication facilities. And finally we are making every effort to bridge all development gaps between our member countries so that together we may be able to sustain the dynamism that made Asean a force for stability and progress.

The various projects for development cooperation that will be discussed in this Forum have been designed to ultimately contribute to the attainment of the basic goal of Asean integration in all its aspects. I therefore urge all our dialogue partners and other friends of Asean to look hard and deep into these projects for opportunities for fruitful partnership.

For if, through that partnership, we succeed in bringing about the full integration of Asean, I have no doubt that we will witness a new surge of Asean dynamism that will make it an even greater asset and strong point for peace and progress.