SECRETARY CLINTON: Hello, everyone, good morning. My goodness, we
have quite a wonderful turnout, and we are so grateful to our friends
and colleagues from Indonesia for being part of this ongoing and very
important effort. Ambassador, very good to see you, and the Minister and
I just had an opportunity to cover a few issues, because we have so
much work to report on today, and I thank all of my colleagues and
partners from across our government.
So we are gathered here today for our third joint commission meeting.
You were such gracious hosts when I have been in Indonesia, in Jakarta a
few weeks ago, in Bali for our last meeting, and we are so pleased to
be able to host you here today.
As the Minister and I were just discussing, the United States and
Indonesia have strengthened our ties through the Comprehensive
Partnership agreement signed by our two presidents. And since then, this
commission has been the vehicle for advancing that partnership through
collaboration on regional stability, global security, trade, commerce,
education, health, such a long list of areas that we have been working
on together. I think we have a lot to show for our efforts, and we will
soon hear from the chairs of the six working groups on their
accomplishments over the last year.
But first let me just stress the importance of our relationship with
Indonesia, and highlight a few particular successes that have resulted
from recent collaboration. As the second and third largest democracies
in the world, we are natural partners, and the United States looks to
Indonesia as a cornerstone for stability in the Asia Pacific region. A
major part of the engagement that we have been pursuing is the promotion
of economic growth through trade and development, which is so important
not only for both our nations and our people, but the region.
Our economic ties with Indonesia are a strong foundation for that
economic growth. Since the year 2000, our bilateral trade has more than
doubled, topping $27 billion last year. The $21 billion agreement
between Lion Air and Boeing is the largest in Boeing’s history.
America’s natural gas sector has drawn investments from Indonesian
energy companies here in this country. A new Memorandum of Understanding
between the Indonesian Government and Celanese, an American company,
may lead to a new billion-dollar facility that will convert coal to
ethanol.
And just yesterday, we signed the implementation plan for the
Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact, and over five years, we will
invest $600 million in clean energy development, healthcare, and
nutrition programs for children, and a project to support more open and
efficient governance. I’m looking forward to hearing from our working
groups on the plan’s progress and other new initiatives.
Another major focus of our partnership has been promoting education,
which is a key to both economic growth and personal advancement. Since
2010, we’ve expanded the Fulbright Program and supported partnerships
between dozens of American and Indonesian universities. More than 1,000
students and scholars have taken part in academic exchanges, and the
United States is supporting primary education and English language
programs in Indonesia.
Since we started working together on education issues, the number of
applications by Indonesian students for American visas has increased by
one-third. These direct, person-to-person ties are critical to deepening
the friendship between the American and Indonesian people. That is
something President Obama is personally very committed to, based on his
own relationships. And we should look for more ways to promote these
exchanges.
We also greatly appreciate Indonesia’s leadership as ASEAN chair in
supporting America’s engagement with ASEAN. When Indonesia hosted the
East Asia Summit last year, President Obama became the first American
president to attend.
I also want to thank the Foreign Minister for laying the groundwork
for diplomacy through ASEAN with regard to the South China Sea. We
support ASEAN’s six-point principles to help reduce tensions and pave
the way to a comprehensive code of conduct for addressing disputes. And
we support a solution through which all concerned parties can resolve
any disputes without threats, coercion, or the use of force.
Indonesia and the United States have collaborated to help open
markets across the region to greater trade and investment, working to
discourage protectionist policies that serve as roadblocks to greater
economic integration, and as Indonesia prepares to host APEC in 2013, we
hope that under Indonesia’s leadership, we will continue to see greater
openness and economic opportunities for more people in more places.
Finally, I want to acknowledge Indonesia’s role in helping to meet
regional and global challenges. As you know, Aung San Suu Kyi has been
in Washington the last two days. I personally am grateful for
Indonesia’s leadership in bringing about the openness and the reforms
that are currently taking place in her country. I want to publicly
acknowledge the role that President Yudhoyono has played in reaching out
to the leadership as well as the Foreign Minister and his colleagues in
helping to move that important development forward.
We’ve stood together on issues from nonproliferation to climate
change to working to end the violence in Syria, and the United States
will again be sending a high-level delegation to the Bali Democracy
Forum to build on our efforts to promote democracy and human rights. I
am so appreciative of the progress that we have made in so many ways in
our partnership, and it’s been a great privilege serving with the
Foreign Minister.
So now let me ask him to provide some remarks.
FOREIGN MINISTER NATALEGAWA: Thank you very much, Excellency
and a dear colleague, Secretary of State Madam Hillary Clinton, co-chair
of this third Joint Commission meeting. And of course, I’d like to
acknowledge and to express how pleased I am to be back here in
Washington with my colleagues – of course, the members of the Indonesian
delegation – and especially to thank your able and very dedicated
delegation, Secretary Clinton, for the important work they have been
achieving.
Let me, therefore, begin once again in a manner that is, I think,
appropriate by thanking all concerned for the very gracious hospitality,
for the warm welcome all of us have received here ever since our
arrival in Washington.
Most of all – most of all – I wish to thank Secretary Clinton just
now for her comprehensive opening remarks – not only thanking her, but
especially and most of all in echoing precisely, basically all the
sentiments the Secretary have expressed in describing the state of the
United States-Indonesia relations. You have described our state
relations, Secretary, in a matter that I wish to describe as well, a
relations that is very solid and very sound and strong, robust, and
whose implications and whose importance now extends beyond bilateral
relations to the region at large.
However, before I go any further, I wish to seize this opportunity,
Madam Secretary, to once again extend our most deepest of condolences to
the government and people of the United States on the tragic incident
that took place in Libya recently that took the lives of Ambassador John
Christopher Stevens and three members of the United States Embassy
staff. The inviolability, the security, and the safety of diplomatic
missions and staff the world over, whatever countries, are ever more
critical in this day and age where we have to deal with very complex
issues. And all of us without exception – all of us without exception –
are in great mourning and express our sympathy and condolences to the
government and people of the United States, as well, of course, to the
families of the persons concerned.
Most of all, Secretary, as we had just now discussed during our
tete-a-tete, the tragic incidents calls upon all of us – calls upon all
of us – to reaffirm, to renew, and to strengthen our commitment to the
building of a culture of peace, a culture of understanding across
peoples of different faiths and cultures as well, and to sustain a true
dialogue across faiths that effectively reaches people at the grassroot
level. Of course, in condemning the movie trailers concerned, which
constitute religious defamations and the – we are reminded that the
exercise of freedom of expression is framed within the context of moral
values and public interest, as also enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
Madam Secretary, you will recall just a little bit over two weeks ago
I had the pleasure of welcoming you in Jakarta. That occasion afforded
us the opportunity, much like previous meeting and conversations that
we’ve had, to reinforce the bilateral comprehensive partnership between
our two countries and not least to enhance our contribution to the
region’s peace, stability, and prosperity.
Indeed, the fact that we’ve had a series of close consultations over
such a short span of time, I believe reflects the strength of
U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, a partnership that is mutually
beneficial and at the same time extends well beyond the bilateral
level, anchored in and driven by a strong belief in the common interest
of countries in the region for peace, for stability, and prosperity in
the Asia Pacific.
Madam Secretary, our meeting today, this joint commission, is very
important, in fact a fundamental component of that partnership. Through
this JC meeting we will take stock of the progress of our partnerships
thus far, and not least, identify ways and means of making further
progress. In this regard, I am pleased that the six working groups
continue to make progress in their respective areas, and indeed, and
important aspect of our bilateral mechanism is the fact that each of the
working groups strives to yield concrete deliverables. And I am certain
that this will ensure the enhancement of our partnership over the years
to come.
As I have said on several occasion, Madam Secretary, the term
comprehensive partnership denotes a cooperation which covers a wide
range of issues and a relationship that is mutually beneficial, a
partnership that will enable both nations to prosper and to progress.
And we are, therefore, challenged to ensure that this JC meeting
actually delivers concrete results. Indeed, we have much – achieved much
progress since our last meeting in Bali in November, 2011. But I’m sure
all of you would recognize there’s actually plenty more room for
further progress.
I look forward, Madam Secretary, to work closely with you this
morning to precisely ensure that we achieve our common goals as
elucidated in the comprehensive partnership between our two countries.
Thank you once again for welcoming us to Washington.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, Marty, and let me
thank you for your expressions of condolence and solidarity. And I want
to thank your government and the people of Indonesia for their support
during this time. As you rightly say, there cannot be any justification,
despite the strong feelings people have in response to material that
is, as I have said, offensive and very disgusting in so many ways – but
there can be no justification for the use of violence. And your law
enforcement, your government, have been very responsive, and we’re very
grateful to you.
Now we want to begin to hear from our working groups. And I will
begin by inviting Under Secretary Otero and Ambassador Fachir to provide
a report from the democracy and civil society working group.
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