Speech by the EU Ambassador to Indonesia, H.E. Vincent Guérend at the Launch of the EU-Indonesia Blue Book 2018

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Speech by the EU Ambassador to Indonesia, H.E. Vincent Guérend at the Launch of the EU-Indonesia Blue Book 2018

Jakarta, 24 May 2018

Selamat Siang,

Let me first of all welcome:

Her Excellency Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Minister of Environment and Forestry,

Dr Ir Arifin Rudiyanto, MSc, Deputy Minister for Maritime and Natural Resources, National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), our central interlocutor for development cooperation with the Indonesian Government,

Ambassadors of EU Member States,

Representatives of the international community, of the Indonesian civil society and of the Media,

It is my pleasure to launch the Blue Book 2018, our report on EU-Indonesia development cooperation, as part of the Europe Month celebrations here in Jakarta.

Europe Month celebrates Europe Day – the birthday of the European Union on 9 May – which symbolises peace and unity in Europe.

The Blue Book launch is at the heart of this year's Europe Month reflecting the importance that we give to our cooperation, which has led to reforms and tangible results for the people of Indonesia over many years.

EU Development Cooperation – Global and EU-Indonesia

The European Union has been consistently in the lead of global efforts on development financing, underpinning sustained efforts to promote prosperity, peace, and sustainable development worldwide.

The EU and its 28 Member States have a long-standing tradition in promoting development, jointly representing the world's leading provider of Official Development Assistance (ODA) - with an overall amount of 75.7 billion euro in 2017. We invest in people, stronger institutions and societies.

This demonstrates our firm commitment to continue financing development and supporting the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals, to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.

In Indonesia, we have dedicated resources to many areas including environment and forestry, good governance, human rights, education, trade and economic development, as well as health services.

Over the last ten years, the EU has contributed more than half a billion euro of grant assistance to Indonesia.

Allow me to give you a brief overview of the main aspects and latest developments in EU-Indonesia development cooperation:

Most of the on-going bilateral programmes, financed under the 2007-2013 Country Strategy Paper (402 million euro), will only end in 2018 and 2019. Education was the main focal sector (80%), provided largely via budget support to ensure nationwide access to better quality basic education. The final budget support payment of 7.5 million euro is about to be released and two highly successful programmes for about 60 million euro came to an end in 2017 supporting Minimum Service Standards, research and capacity building in the education sector.

Public finance management, and Justice are other focal areas of bilateral cooperation with large ongoing programmes that are all delivering good results.

Climate Change/ Forestry remains another important area of support, with a major ongoing programme on Climate Change Response in Aceh.

The EU remains fully engaged in development cooperation and has provided in 2017 alone more than 20 million euro new funds through its regional and thematic programmes for 10 new projects.

The most important new project is our trade capacity building project called ARISE+ (10 million euro) which will support Indonesia to benefit more from international trade, increase exports and support the ongoing CEPA negotiations.

Seven grants are provided to strengthen civil society organisations, human rights and support SDG implementation at local level.

Furthermore two new sustainable consumption and production projects worth around 4.1 million euro support green food products/standards and sustainable fish processing.

More than 200 scholarships were awarded to Indonesian students and university teachers under the ERASMUS+ programme.

As demonstrated by the many Blue Book success stories, EU Member States also continue to be very active in supporting Indonesia in many development areas including environment and climate change, good governance, human rights, economic cooperation and health.

Meanwhile, the portfolio of EU-funded ASEAN programmes is growing very fast with major new flagship programmes which started in 2017 such as the important  peatlands and haze mitigation programme where Indonesia shall be the lead beneficiary, as well as E-READI on policy dialogue and ARISE+ on economic integration. This is in addition to ongoing programmes such as:

(i) EU-SHARE (higher education, connecting Indonesian Universities and systems to other AMSs, scholarships),

(ii) Border Management & Migration (cooperation with Interpol, DG Immigration).

We had recently a successful EU-ASEAN dialogue on sustainable development goals (SGDs) in Bangkok. We are keen to engage with Indonesia in a more structured and regular dialogue on our shared interests which include gender equality, green growth and sustainable development. We should closely cooperate in order to meet our global commitments together to eradicate poverty and inequality and leave no one behind. We see Indonesia as an important player for the achievement of the SDGs.

Climate Change

Today, I would like to highlight our efforts on the fight against climate change, one of the most important challenges facing our planet.

The EU is committed to keeping the world on the path for achieving the goals agreed in Paris and strives to enhance climate action on the ground.

After the successful Paris Climate Summit in 2015 and its rapid entry into force in 2016, the EU and Indonesia continued building on this momentum in their partnership on climate and environment issues in 2017.

We strive to enhance climate action on the ground while completing the Paris Agreement Work Programme by the next UN climate conference (COP24) in December 2018 in Katowice, Poland.

Against the background of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda, the EU seeks to balance efforts on mitigation and adaptation, and to reach a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and removals across economic sectors that are consistent with climate-resilient development. For instance, one of the EU’s priorities is to support the transition towards a more circular economy.

Indonesia, in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) identifies land use and energy as important areas for action among others. The EU and its Member States are working together with Indonesia to achieve shared climate goals, in particular focusing on sustainable, low-emission land use, energy, and adaptation.

The EU and Indonesia enjoy close technical cooperation and policy dialogue on three of the main drivers of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and land degradation, namely: forestry, palm oil production, and the draining of peatlands, which increases fire risks. In these areas, the EU supports actions such as 

• the initiative on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT)
• the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF)
• the Facility on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD)
• studies on strengthening the Indonesian certification for sustainable palm oil (ISPO)
• exploring the use of Copernicus Remote Sensing for peatlands.

I would like to note here that last year we celebrated one year from the launch of FLEGT licensing by Europe of Indonesian timber products which started in November 2016. Indonesia is the first country in the world to receive such recognition.

The EU has been supporting many initiatives at sub-national level to support the local authorities in transforming their development approach and to meet targets on climate change mitigation and reducing the carbon footprint.

An important highlight is the ongoing EU project on Support to Indonesia’s Climate change Response, which focuses implementation in the Aceh Province, to boost actions on climate change mitigation and adaptation in full adherence with the Indonesian NDC. 

On the regional level, the EU has launched two initiatives through its cooperation with ASEAN that directly benefit Indonesia as the largest depository of peatland and host of mega-biodiversity. These initiatives focus on the sustainable management of peatlands and combating transboundary haze pollution (SUPA), as well as the conservation of biodiversity (BCAMP).

But this is not all. I would like to mention that we expect soon a new EU funded project on biodiversity and CITES implementation. We are meanwhile also exploring possible EU support to Sulu Sulawesi Coral Triangle.

EU Member States also provide substantial loans and grants to the environment and climate change sectors. Many examples can be found in the Blue Book. Just to highlight some examples:

• Germany provides support for waste management, forestry conservation and renewable energy.
• France works on urban development including energy efficiency and low carbon transport.
• The UK is very active on forestry protection especially in Papua and has also supported FLEGT significantly.
• Denmark is part of a multi-donor trust fund for Indonesia to improve the situation with plastic waste. Together with Sweden, it also supports renewable energy.
• The Netherlands is supporting the sustainable use of natural resources and the environmental legal framework.

In addition, the EU and Indonesia have, together with other G20 countries, put in place a strategic partnership for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, in order to facilitate the exchange of good practices and advance bilateral cooperation and NDC-friendly investments.

Bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the EU and Indonesia remains crucial to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement, to enhance Indonesia's resilience to the impact of climate change, and preserve its extraordinary biodiversity.

Conclusion

Finally, I would like to highlight that the EU-Indonesia Blue Book 2018 tells the success stories of our cooperation with Indonesia – stories of people gathering forces and ideas to protect Indonesia's rich forests and marine biodiversity, of education reforms that ensure equal access to quality teaching for all, of empowering women and young people... and many more. I hope you enjoy reading about our joint work.

Terima kasih.