Press release, 2 May 2013
This year Lithuania and Indonesia mark the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations. On this occasion the delegation of the Republic of Indonesia led by Marzuki Alie, Speaker of the House of Representatives, who is visiting Lithuania, met with Vydas Gedvilas, Speaker of the Seimas, Benediktas Juodka, Chair of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Petras Auštrevičius, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and Deputy Chair of the Committee on European Affairs.
Mr Gedvilas expressed his appreciation of the deepening parliamentary cooperation between the two countries and thanked the honourable guest for his support to Lithuania’s aspiration to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, the East European Group, during 2014–2015. “Allow me to emphasize on this occasion that Lithuania would be extremely grateful for your support to Lithuania during the elections when we aim to hold this position for the first time in our country’s history. Peace and security cannot be achieved in this complicated and interconnected world of today without genuine international cooperation based on the principle of sovereign equality of states and respect for human rights,” Mr Gedvilas said.
Bilateral cooperation development possibilities were at the focus of attention of the meeting. While expressing his appreciation of the strengthening relations in the past twenty years, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia noted that specific improvements have been achieved in the last five years, and expressed Indonesia’s support to Lithuania.
“Indonesia, as a country having a rather strong influence in ASEAN – Association of Southeast Asian Nations – fosters cooperation with Lithuania,” Mr Alie stated.
He noted that cooperation in the field of economy and education, and development of students’ exchange programme, while deepening the cooperation in international policy area at the same time, could serve as a basis for further cooperation between Indonesia and Lithuania. He also added that Indonesia was particularly interested in strengthening cooperation in research and technology, especially in biotechnology and medical diagnosis field.
The Speaker of the Seimas supported the objective to enhance our bilateral cultural and human relations. In his view, it is even more so when we see good examples which contribute to strengthening of our relations – Lithuanian professor Birutė Galdikas, currently residing and working in Indonesia, who has arrived together with the Indonesian delegation and whose merits in environmental protection field have been recognised all over the world.
The Speaker of the Seimas highlighted Lithuania’s main goal – energy security – and presented main activities and objectives in this field. He said: “Our country does not possess such natural resources as Indonesia does, however, we have to use our human potential and technological possibilities to make cooperation in this respect greatly significant.”
The meeting also looked into Lithuania’s main objectives during the upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union and our country’s experience in overcoming the economic crisis.
