Welcoming Remarks

By

Dr. Koensatwanto Inpasihardjo

Minister Secretary for Ministry of National Development Planning/ Executive Secretary for National Development Planning Agency, Republic of Indonesia

At

The Opening Ceremony of the 4thASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Development Planning (SOM-DP)

Thursday, 14 Juli 2005

Nusa Dua Beach Hotel, Bali, Indonesia

Your Excellency,

Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep appreciation to Her Excellency Ibu Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of National Development Planning/Chairman of Development Planning Agency for her kind acceptance of our invitation to be with us here today to officially open the 4thASEAN Senior Official Meeting on Development Planning Institutions. I would like also to bid you all Selamat Datang or Welcome to The Island of Paradise, Bali. We are indeed delighted and honoured to be given this opportunity, to once again host this meeting in Indonesia.

ASEAN is an expression of shared values and aspiration, which have been shaped through centuries by common geography, climate, culture, and shared historical experiences among the Southeast Asian countries. In this sense, the Leaders’ resolve to establish an ASEAN Community with capital C is not a deviation but a reaffirmation of the Bangkok Declaration of 1967 “to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian nations”. Thus, the aspiration of Southeast Asian nations to build a community finds its roots from their conscious or unconscious recognition of their common identity, interests, and space.

Over almost four decades ASEAN has been making steady progress in realizing the ASEAN Community by 2020 as envisioned by ASEAN Leaders. This ASEAN Community is based on the three pillars of economic cooperation, political and security cooperation and socio-cultural cooperation.

In moving towards the ASEAN Community, ASEAN has developed the Vientiane Action Programme (VAP) to be implemented for the period 2004-2010, as an instrument to unify and cross-link the strategies and goals of the three pilars as an integral part of the action plans and programmes building up to the realisation of the goals of ASEAN Vision 2020. Through the implementation of the VAP, ASEAN intends to narrow the development gap among Member Countries in order to quicken the pace of integration.

Your Excellency,

Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Looking back, to support the process of integration through an increasing ASEAN cooperation in development planning, we have had three ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Development Planning in 1996 – 1997. At the 3rd meeting in Jakarta, it was agreed to hold an ASEAN Ministerial Meeting Responsible for Development Planning in September 1997. However, due to the economic crisis in some of the ASEAN Member Countries, the Meeting did not materialize. As indicated in the Meeting Documents sent to the planning institution in each member country, the meeting of ASEAN Standing Committee 3/38 in Jakarta last May 2005 agreed in principle to reconvene the ASEAN Senior Meeting on Development Planning. To follow up, Indonesia has taken initiative to continue the previously suspended ASEAN cooperative endeavors on development planning.

We are so grateful that we have 8 Member Countries are participating in this meeting. Seven delegates are the representative from capital city, and one delegate is the representative from embassy in Jakarta. With this enthusiasm, I am confident that this’ ASEAN Development Planning institution could enhance its cooperation in order to reach the objective set out in the ASEAN Vision 2020 for the sake of ASEAN community prosperity.

Your Excellency,

Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In closing,allow me to express our special thanks to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Government of the Province of Balifor kindly assisting us in hosting this meeting. I should also like to extend our appreciation to ASEAN Secretariat for all its support. Sincere thanks are also due to the Organizing Committee for the very hard work and efficient preparations made for the meeting.

May I wish you all a very successful and enjoyable stay in Nusa Dua, Bali. On this note, may I now invite Your Excellency Ibu Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of National Development Planning/Chairman of Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), to present her opening address and to officially open our 4th SOM DP.

Thank You