Visa on arrival for Indians Indonesia, India must have closer ties


Seeing is believing. This is what he strongly advocates. Before Lt. General (R) Andi M. Ghalib, Ambassador of Indonesia, came to India, he had an altogether different view about the country, but once he landed here, his views changed. Now he has been going around the country from one State to another, to see India, to know the truth about India, a country which he says is a cultural power. The Ambassador spoke about the lack of information in India about Indonesia and the need to strengthen ties between the two countries in an exclusive interview granted to THE BLUE MOON Editor, Amit Mittal. We bring to you some excerpts:

"I find that most of the people in India are not aware of Indonesia. Due to this lack of information sometimes Indonesia is misunderstood. Indonesia wants to cooperate with India, but this lack of awareness becomes a hindrance."

There is no doubt that there is very little information available about Indonesia. A lot is desired to be done to move further in the positive direction.

"Since last year relations between India and Indonesia have been improving. After the visit of President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil in December last year, the visits of businessmen and others have gone up. The movement from Indonesia to India has also gone up. Parliamentarians have been coming. A lot of high ranking people are coming to India. At a Fair in Jakarta in December 128 Indian companies participated. Last November too participants from ICC came to Jakarta for a seminar."

No doubt exchanges have been increasing between the two countries, there was a period when the relations were not going as strong as earlier.

"At the time of our President Sukarno and Prime Minister Nehru the relations were very strong when the two came together in Bandung, but after the two leaders there was a little downtrend in ties. But since 2005 there has been considerable improvement when our President Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met in November and signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement. Under the MoU made by them the two countries will strengthen special relations in economy, trade, defence and security. Under the umbrella of this Agreement, the two aim to maximize relations."

The new Partnership Agreement is important for India not only from the point of view of trade, but also it helps in furthering ties with the ten members of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The bilateral trade between the two reached USD 4.79 billion in 2006 jumping 22 % over the previous year, obviously an outcome of the new Agreement.

"We have covered much more in trade than projected. The bilateral trade was projected to grow to USD 10 billion by the year 2010, but this target has already been achieved before time. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding in fields of agriculture and sports during the Indian President's visit last year. We want to improve relations much more. Our present President Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has very good relations with the Indian Prime Minister. Their role in G-20 and WTO has been very close." "I must add here that in bilateral trade Indonesia is surplus."

Improved political and trade relations will definite benefit both the countries. At the same time people traveling on business or leisure between the two countries will further bring the peoples closer.

"I invited a lot of prominent Indian people and we have formed an India-Indonesia Friendship Society. It is through this Society that we are trying to spread awareness among people about Indonesia."

There seem to be honest efforts in promoting ties on both sides, however, we still do not see the Indonesian airline Garuda flying to India. What could be the reasons?

"Garuda was given a green signal by India last year, but due to economic crisis Garuda could not start operations. I am sure that they would start operations in the beginning of 2010. There is no political hindrance in this matter."

When there are direct links people travel more, specially the tourists.

"Last year we registered 1,20,000 visits and this year there has been a 62% increase. We have added facility of visa-on-arrival for Indians since 2006-07. Even if, someone approaches the Embassy here for a visa, we have a one hour service for them.

In addition to economic and political relations, there may be more subjects where cooperation could be fruitful.

"Yes, we are looking forward to increased cooperation in the field of education, specially in the information technology sector. More than this, I think India is a cultural superpower, no other country has a cultural power like India, so we want that India and Indonesia should come together in cultural cooperation. These two subjects need to be promoted. One day India will become a leading economic power because of its cultural power. Everything is based on cultural cooperation."

What about cooperation in matters pertaining to defence?

"In 2006 the two countries had signed an agreement on defence. In matters relating to security, in combating terrorism, we have close cooperation. Along with economic growth, we have a lot of opportunities to further develop ties between the countries."

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