Remarks at Official Dinner in Honor of Prime Minister of The Lao People`s Democratic Republic

TRANSCRIPT
REMARKS H.E. DR. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
OFFICIAL DINNER IN HONOR OF
H.E. BOUASONE BOUPHAVANH
PRIME MINISTER OF THE LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
ISTANA NEGARA, 26 JANUARY 2007


Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Your Excellency Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh,
Excellencies Ministers,
Distinguished Members of the Lao Delegation,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

At this, we have one way to hear in this room. It is an honor and pleasure for me to welcome Your Excellency and the Lao delegations to Jakarta. After our very productive meeting today, I have every confidence that your visit to Jakarta will help strengthen our bilateral relations and cooperation to a higher level.

Indonesia and Laos share many common values and tradition. We are both proud nations, proud of our history. And this similiarity brings us even closer as neighbors and as fellow members of the ASEAN family. And today, we reiterate our commitment to strengthen our bonds of friendship, between the two Governments and between our two Peoples.

Before anything else, I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations for your appointment as Prime Minister of Lao People’s Democratic Republic. From what I have learned, that is a very noble duty with huge responsibility. And I have all confidence that under your steadfast and wise leadership, Laos will prosper and progress further in the future.

We in Indonesia are proud of our friendship with Laos, a fellow member of ASEAN and a peace-loving country that is in good terms with the rest of the world.

We were very impressed with Laos leadership of ASEAN during the period of 2004-2005, when Laos successfully hosted the ASEAN Summit of 2004 and the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting of 2005.

It was during the chairmanship of Laos that ASEAN formulated and adopted the Vientiane Action Plan, which today serves as our primary guidance toward our attainment of the ASEAN Community.

At the bilateral level, your visit to Indonesia this time is particularly significant, considering that this year we are observing the golden jubilee of our diplomatic relations. It is a time for celebrating our friendship and what we have accomplished together over the years. It si also an excellent occasion for reviewing and invigorating our mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields.

Today, we had a very productive and constructive discussion on how the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Laos can be further enhanced, for the benefit of our peoples.

As we agreed today during our bilateral talks, we will explore and develop many more opportunities for cooperative undertaking on a government-to-government, business sector-to-business sector and people-to-people basis.

We will work together to expand our trade and investment relations. We will enhance our bilateral cooperation in promoting tourism. And we will continue our technical cooperation, particularly in providing training and other forms of assistance in capacity building for Laos.

We agreed that the Joint Commission, led by the Foreign Ministers, will meet in Vientiane in September this year, and we entrust them to chart a stronger and more substantive course for our bilateral relations.

I am optimistic about Laos and about Indonesia’s friendship and cooperation with Laos. And I have the finest expectations about the contributions of Laos to the attainment of the ASEAN Community. And this is partly because Laos today is blessed with stability and is active in the processes of ASEAN cooperation and dialogue relations. We are therefore in the best position to help each other and to work as a team with the rest of the ASEAN family.

Loas is known to the world as the land of a million elephants. This is also symbolic of the future of Laos-for the elephant in Southest Asian mythology is a happy figure, a robust and constant source of blessings. And if we work hard together in the spirit of friendship and ASEAN solidarity, we will soon enough be counting our blessings by the millions.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Now may I request every one of you to rise and join me in a toast to the health and success of Your Excellency Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh and to the progress and prosperity of our two countries.


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Bureau for Press and Media Affairs
Presidential Household