Hilton Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 8-7-2008

Statement at The Sixth Developing Eight (D8) Summit

 

STATEMENT
H.E. DR. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
AT
THE SIXTH DEVELOPING EIGHT SUMMIT

“MEETING GLOBAL CHALLENGES THROUGH INNOVATIVE COOPERATION”


KUALA LUMPUR, 8 JULY 2008
( 09.30 – 10.15 )



<i>Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
Assalaamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh</i>

Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,
President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Advisor of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Ministers of the D-8 Member Countries,
Secretary-General of the D-8,

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me start by thanking the Prime Minister of Malaysia, His Excellency Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and the people of Malaysia for hosting this important Summit Meeting of the Developing Eight. I am honoured to be here and delighted at the warm hospitality accorded to my delegation and me.

Our first task is to review what our Group has achieved in its first decade. After that we will adopt two major documents: the Kuala Lumpur Declaration and the Roadmap of D-8, which will guide our work in the Second Decade of our Cooperation.

Our cooperation has come a long way since D-8 was founded in Istanbul in 1997. By the time we met in Bali for the Fifth D-8 Summit and Indonesia assumed Chairmanship of our Group, we had the greatest confidence in the direction we had taken. Hence, in that Summit we reaffirmed our commitment to the goals and objectives of D-8, as their attainment would tremendously benefit our peoples.

Since then, we have carried out 31 programmes and activities. Fifteen of them were hosted by Indonesia. They covered such fields as trade, micro-finance, takaful, energy, tourism, civil aviation and health.

We have also completed the formulation of a D-8 Roadmap, which states our vision and mission, objectives and goals, guiding principles, phases, and key programs. The Roadmap would provide pragmatic direction for our future work, taking into account the current realities of the world and how they impact on the welfare of our peoples.

I therefore sincerely hope that our Summit today will be able to adopt the Roadmap.

I am also pleased to inform you that the High-level Trade Officials Meeting has finally concluded their long and intensive negotiations on the Rules of Origin and Offers List. These two documents are a prerequisite to the full implementation of the D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement, which we signed at the Bali Summit.

We accomplished all of these because of the full support and cooperation that our member countries extended to Indonesia as Chair. Let me therefore take this opportunity to express Indonesia’s gratitude and appreciation to all D-8 members, as well as to the Secretary General and his able staff who worked hard to ensure the success of our joint efforts.

Excellencies,
We cannot, however, rest on our accomplishments. We are facing enormous challenges. That is why the theme, “Meeting Global Challenges through Innovative Cooperation” is very appropriate.

The first challenge that we must confront is that of globalization. It is true that globalization promotes integration and promises huge gains for nations that are competitive. But it is also true that globalization has marginalized many developing nations. The only way we can escape marginalization is to catch up and effectively compete—by working more vigorously together among ourselves, with international institutions and with our developed partners.

We must therefore undertake the following:

First, we the D-8 countries have to be more proactive and innovative in our programmes and activities. We have to make optimal use of our resources: we have a combined population of more than 900 million— that is a huge market for the products of our individual members.

That is also a huge labour pool that can be made even more valuable by a judicious effort at human resources development.

And our countries are blessed with abundant and diversified natural resources.

With these resources we should be able to contribute substantially to the global economy and to the eventual conquest of poverty.

Second, we have to enlist our private sectors in a robust effort to promote investment cooperation among D-8 countries. We just have to create more opportunities for our traders and entrepreneurs to meet, explore possibilities and strike up mutually profitable arrangements. And while they are doing these, we can coordinate policies on incentives and facilitation.

Third, we need to close or minimize the economic gap among D-8 countries. For this purpose, we have to enlarge our intra-trade and strengthen partnership for development amongst ourselves.

Excellencies,
Perhaps even more urgent than the challenge of globalization is the challenge of food and energy security. There is no quick-fix that will sweep aside this challenge. But we must act on it at once and in concert. To delay concerted action on this great challenge of our time is to court disaster.

The Food and Agriculture Organization points out that since the mid-1970s rice stocks have been predicted to fall to very low levels, while the price of rice continues to escalate at a rate that burdens all rice-producing as well as rice-importing countries. This means that more people in the developing world will have less to eat: many will go from hunger to starvation.

That is why we have to find a solution to this problem of food scarcity. The least we can do in our respective countries is to strive for national food self-reliance that will support the domestic economy and meet the food requirements of the peoples.

The rising price of crude oil, the scramble for alternative sources of energy, and the threat of global warming have compounded the food crisis. The surge in oil prices has adversely affected most countries. Many developing countries are reeling from its impact. Higher transportation costs lead to higher food prices. Some developed countries have even shifted away from food production to raising bio-fuel crops. The idea is to reduce greenhouse gases and to wean themselves away from dependence on fossil fuels. It is not a good idea: it has only worsened the global food crisis.

These are but a few of the challenges we must grapple with. I am confident that we can cope with them and eventually overcome them—if we are faithful to our commitments and if we have the support of a strong secretariat.

Excellencies,
I am optimistic that the envisioned D-8 permanent secretariat will ensure the full implementation of D-8 key programs, as stipulated in the D-8 Roadmap.

And I do believe that under the able Chairmanship of Malaysia, D-8 will continue to move forward in pursuit of socioeconomic development for our peoples.

Thus I am distinctly honoured to hand over the chairmanship of D-8 to His Excellency Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, and to congratulate Malaysia as the new Chairman of D-8 for the period of 2008 – 2010.

I thank you.

<i>Wassalaamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh</i>



Kuala Lumpur, 8 July 2008

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA


<b>DR. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO</b>