Embracing pluralism: Representatives from the Indonesian Women's Association take part in the UNIS Spring Fair 2013 Bazaar held on March 16 in Ha Noi. — Photo courtesy of the Indonesian Embassy

On the occasion of Indonesia's Independence day, the Viet Nam News presents an article by Indonesian Ambassador to Viet Nam, Mayerfas

August 17 is a sacred date for the entire Indonesian na-tion. August 17, 1945 was the long awaited day when the Indonesian people proclaimed their independence from 100 years of colonial rule; the Republic of Indonesia was born after a long relentless struggle.

To give a thumbnail sketch, my country has over 17,500 islands, 300 ethnic groups and 240 million Indonesians, which makes us the fourth most populous nation in the world. Embracing pluralism, as encapsulated in our national motto: "unity in diversity", is a fact of national life.

Positioned between the Asian and Australian continents, the vast Indonesia archipelago spans 5,120km across the equator. Four-fifths of the area is sea and the five main islands are Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Papua.

During recent years, Indonesia has made achievements that are beginning to draw worldwide positive attention, especially the development of democracy.

Although Indonesia's economic growth slowed to only 5.9 per cent in the first half of this year due to the current world economic downturn, the country's GDP is still much higher than the average GDP of world economies.

As for relations with Viet Nam, Indonesia and Viet Nam have shared a profound traditional friendship from the very beginning of our independence in 1945. Each of our founding fathers, President Sukarno and President Ho Chi Minh, shared brotherhood feelings and a common viewpoint, which was to advance our countries towards a brighter, better and more developed state.

From political perspectives, there have been frequent meetings and visits between leaders and high ranking officials of our two countries. During the past few years, we have witnessed the relationship between Indonesia and Viet Nam moving to a new and higher level. In 2012, the first meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) at Foreign Minister level was held in Viet Nam, marking an important breakthrough in the development of co-operation between our two countries in a variety of fields.

The strengthened relations between Indonesia and Viet Nam created a new milestone with the official visit to Indonesia by President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam Truong Tan Sang, on June 27-28 this year. During the visit, the leaders of the two countries decided to lift bilateral relations from a comprehensive partnership to a strategic partnership. As a matter of fact, Viet Nam is the only country in the Southeast Asian region to have a strategic partnership with Indonesia. All of these efforts reflect the importance of Viet Nam to Indonesia.

In terms of economic co-operation, impressive achievements have been made in all fields. Within only 10 years, the bilateral trade value increased ten-fold to US$4.8 billion in 2012. Based on the increasing trend of trade value and with common optimism, the leaders of both countries have agreed to reach $8 billion by 2018 in trade volume, up from the previous target of $5 billion in 2015. In terms of investment, the two countries have been committed to promote a more attractive and favourable environment for investment. With the improvement of the country's investment climate, Viet Nam has become a new investment destination for companies from Indonesia. It is expected that there will be more deals like these in the future, in addition to more than 30 Indonesian companies which have invested in Viet Nam.

On the other hand, we also urge the Vietnamese business community to explore and attain deeper insights into Indonesia's investment and business climate along with the opportunities and advantages of the highly potential market of Indonesia for foreign investors. While Indonesia's investment climate is becoming more attractive to foreign investors, as close friends we sincerely look forward to Vietnamese entrepreneurs taking full advantage of what Indonesia has to offer in terms of business and investment.

As a representative mission of Indonesia in Viet Nam, we have been making a keen effort to explore the prospective aspects of co-operation for further enhancement of the bilateral relations between our two countries.

In order to improve the comprehension and understanding of the people of Viet Nam about Indonesia, the embassy focuses on expanding its network and co-operation with the media. The Government of Indonesia also grants scholarships, training courses and short visits for Vietnamese citizens, thus contributing to closer relations between the people of both countries.

Hence, the strategic partnership of Indonesia and Viet Nam will create a new impetus for co-operation in many sectors. I am confident the strategic partnership will bring about many benefits for our peoples. This partnership is reflecting the aspirations of people in both nations and is contributing to peace, stability, co-operation and development in the region and the world.

Numerous tasks remain ahead, which we need to continuously identify, explore, resolve, reiterate and translate into a result-oriented agenda that will correspond to the expectations of our combined 330 million citizens. Challenges also lie ahead

However, given the numerous advantages that both countries have, including huge populations, increasing economic achievements, rising purchasing power parity, abundant natural resources, geographical closeness and the ASEAN family, we strongly believe in our future and are highly optimistic. — VNS