Speech

SENADA National Launching

Jason Singer, Economic Growth Acting Office Director

Jakarta | Wednesday, March 29, 2006

His Excellency Minister of Industry, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, participants of this event.  Selamat Pagi. It is an honor to speak before you today at this exciting launch of SENADA, the Indonesia Competitiveness Project, and to discuss our mutual development objectives.  Let me first of all express my appreciation for being invited to participate and collaborate in this important gathering.  This event would not be possible without the participation of all of you, and in particular, without the full support and endorsement of the Ministry of Industry and Bappenas, co-sponsoring this event.

President Yudhoyono has shared his vision of a united, successful, and democratic Indonesia - a vision that is increasingly being realized under his leadership.  Today, more Indonesians than ever enjoy lives of peace, opportunity, and freedom.  The United States shares this view and is committed to help expand such benefits to every citizen of this great and diverse country.

Economic cooperation has always been a central pillar of America’s partnership with Indonesia.  An economically strong and vibrant Indonesia with a growing economy is in the interests of both of our nations and a goal that we pursuer through our cooperation, collaboration and assistance with Indonesian public and private sector counterparts.

Demonstrating this commitment today, we are launching the SENADA Project, a collaborative technical assistance activity between the Government of Indonesia and USAID.  The SENADA Project will assist the Indonesian government and work with representatives of the private sector to promote  growth, trade, jobs, and income.  Operating from Jakarta and its regional centers in Bandung, Surabaya and other cities, SENADA’s team of primarily Indonesian consultants, along with a handful of cutting-edge expatriate advisors, will focus on developing Indonesia’s competitiveness in selected high potential industries, promoting productivity among firms and value-added Indonesian products in the final markets in which they are sold, whether that market is local, national, regional or global. The Team will work with firms in the automotive spare-parts, footwear, and information and communication technology sectors, among others, to improve their productivity and competitiveness.

The SENADA Team will also work with stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels to remove policies and regulations constraining the growth and development of these industries.  Such reforms will be critical if the firms are to compete domestically and globally with their competitor firms and products from other countries.  Industry productivity growth will be a key measurement of improvement and will help promote growth in Indonesian firms along with an improved business and investment climate for both key sectors and regions. This should, in turn, benefit other businesses and sectors.

SENADA will work in close cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and other line Ministries.  In order for SENADA to succeed in its objectives, we must have strong support from all of you in providing the proper direction, guidance and cooperation.  More importantly, we must have your support to work towards putting into place pro-growth policies while removing regulatory constraints.  Only with such support will SENADA be useful and effective in benefiting the people of Indonesia with improved growth and job creation.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is another great example of the cooperation not only between Indonesia and the United States, but cooperation between the public and private sectors who share a common vision of a prosperous, dynamic and growing Indonesia.  I am proud to be participating in this event and wish you all success in implementing this important undertaking.