Indonesia

2010 marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. When the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, visited the country in November, a joint declaration was signed.

These are the main pillars of the declaration:

• Cooperation on international political issues
• Focus on energy and climate
• Democracy and good governanceHuman rights
• Economic cooperation

Development cooperation is primarily focused on climate and forests.

Forestry

Indonesia is the country in the world with the highest emissions from deforestation, forest degradation and destruction of peat lands. Over a million hectares of forest disappear annually. Indonesia is the third largest tropical forest country in the world and contains half of the world's tropical peat lands. With its 17 000 islands, Indonesia is a country of great biological diversity, and among the five countries with the highest species diversity. Because of the many threats to the country's forests and biological diversity, Indonesia has been defined as a global priority area for biodiversity conservation measures. (Source: Regjeringen.no)

On 26 May 2010, Norway and Indonesia agreed to enter into a partnership to support Indonesia's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, forest degradation and destruction of peat lands. Indonesia will take immediate and decisive action to reduce their emissions related to forest and peat lands. Norway will support efforts with USD 1 billion over the next few years. The support is performance-based.

A follow-up evaluation from Norad revealed the following:

• Norway is the largest REDD+ donor and among the few to contribute new capital.It is too early to assess the effects of major components, as the forest initiative is still so new.
• A cooperative agreement has been entered into, and the president's support for this can be vitally important to further progress.
• Administrative costs are low – this can mean a high cost-efficiency for the programme, but too few employees may still be a threat to achieving the goals.

Dialogue on human rights

The human rights dialogue with Indonesia was formally opened in Jakarta in April 2002 and is considered by both countries to constitute a cornerstone of the bilateral relations. The dialogue consists of political consultations on state secretary / cabinet minister level and an expert seminar involving Norwegian and Indonesian experts from research communities, public institutions and NGOs.

In recent years the expert seminar has focused on issues of interreligious dialogue and tolerance, children's rights and human rights in the security sector. Previous agenda items have included the establishment of human rights courts and corruption within the judiciary.

In May 2002, an Indonesia Programme was established at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights. The programme works with human rights education, legal reform, human rights in the military and security sectors and the strengthening of Indonesia competence in Norway. There is a close connection between the issues discussed in the official dialogue meetings and the areas in which the Indonesia Programme is engaged.

The dialogue meeting was conducted in October.

Miscellaneous

• There is also cooperation on fisheries. D
• evelopment of a separate programme under the Research Council of Norway has not been successful.
• In the field of culture, the Norwegian Embassy has conducted the seminar Nora's Sisters in Aceh and cooperated with local actors and film festivals.
• There is increasing interest in the Indonesian market from the Norwegian business sector, particularly the energy, maritime and marine sectors.
• During the Foreign Minister's visit a conference on energy partnership was held in cooperation with Innovation Norway, with Norwegian participation from the region.
• The Embassy and the Cluster Munition Coalition have cooperated to approach both civil society and parliament in order get the cluster munitions convention on the agenda.