Speech of Ambassador of Russia to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva at the state reception on the occasion of Russia Day (15.06.2023)

It is a pleasure to welcome you all at the reception on the occasion of the Day of Russia. We are celebrating the unity and the strength of our country which is one of the main players on the global arena and whose people is looking into the future with confidence and pride.

Russia and Indonesia have a long history of successful cooperation traditionally based on principles of friendship, mutual understanding and trustworthy dialogue. This year we commemorated the 73rd Anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. It’s no exaggeration to say that our partnership has already reached the level of strategic dialogue which is only left to be formalized by signing a relevant declaration.

Since 1950-s until today Indonesia has remained one of our key partners in Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific region. We enjoy an active political dialogue, which includes close contacts between our leaders, strong parliamentary and ministerial interaction.

Russian leadership highly appreciates the current status of bilateral relations which have progressed even more following the visit of President Joko Widodo to Moscow in June 2022. Despite the present geopolitical situation and the negative impact on the world economy caused by the Western sanctions on Russia our trade volume with Indonesia has increased by 40% last year. Both countries continue to build closer social, educational and cultural dialogue and are aiming at working together on joint infrastructure projects in various areas including energy, transportation and information technologies.

Our interaction within multilateral fora is steadily developing. Using this opportunity, I would like to once again congratulate our Indonesian friends on successful presidency of Indonesia in G20 last year and wish them same success as ASEAN Chair this year.

We welcome the development of humanitarian ties, sister-city contacts between Moscow and Jakarta, as well as between other cities of Russia and Indonesia. On March 10, 2021 the monument to Yuri Gagarin, the first man who flew to space, was inaugurated in Taman Mataram, South Jakarta, and in the nearest future the monument to the first President of Indonesia Soekarno will be established in the Museon Art Park in Moscow.

I am confident that the traditions of friendship and mutual understanding tested by decades do create necessary conditions for further expansion and intensification of our cooperation.

We are genuinely happy to celebrate this day with our friends who gathered here today and hope that you will enjoy the reception.

Now I would like to read two pantuns, devoted to our event today.

Have a great evening and thank you for the attention!