TEHRAN- The Indonesian Embassy in Iran celebrated the 79th anniversary of the country’s Independence Day at the place of Parsian Azadi Hotel in Tehran on Thursday evening (September 5).

The event was attended by a number of high-ranking officials and diplomats, including Ali-Asghar Mohammadi from Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Addressing the ceremony, Indonesian Ambassador to Tehran Ronny Prasetyo Yuliantoro delivered a speech, the text of which comes as follows:

It is an immense pleasure that we gather here this evening to celebrate the 79th anniversary of Indonesia’s Independence Day.

This Independence Day has always been a special day for us, Indonesians, which we celebrate annually and joyously. This celebration not only commemorates Indonesia’s hard-fought independence but also an opportunity of us to reflect upon Indonesia’s remarkable journey of achievements over the past 79 years.

There has been many obstacles and challenges that Indonesia has overcome to reach to this point, where we made significant progress in maintaining political and economic stability, eradicating poverty, building infrastructure and stable business landscape, and facilitating investment.

Indonesia’s economic growth has always been maintained at around 5.0%, higher than the global average growth of 3.4%.

This year, our 79th Anniversary Celebration theme is “Nusantara Baru Indonesia Maju”… which implies to Indonesia’s new capital to advancing Indonesia.

This theme directly underlined the relocation of Indonesia’s capital from Jakarta to Nusantara. The capital relocation is a strategic step taken by Indonesia to balance regional development and economic equality throughout the country.

The relocation to new capital, Nusantara, is also one of the fundamental steps for Indonesia in order to achieve success of the Vision of Golden Indonesia 2045, which implies a future view of Indonesia achieving the status of a developed and prosperous country 100 years after its independence. 

With the country’s strength opportunities, including the estimated population of 309 million people,… economic growth projections of 5 to 6 percent, … GDP of 9 point 1 trillion US dollar… and with per capita income to reach more than 25 thousand US dollar in the next 22 years,… we are optimistic that Indonesia will become the world’s fourth-largest economy by its centenary in 2045.

Please allow me to extent my sincere congratulations to the Government and the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the successful election of the new President and the formation of the new cabinet under His Excellency Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian.

Similar to Iran, Indonesia will also have a new president and cabinet this year. To this note, we are hopeful that Indonesia and Iran will further boost bilateral cooperation especially in the fields of trade, health, science and technology.

Over the years, Indonesia and Iran have shared deep-rooted historical and cultural ties that have evolved into a dynamic partnership encompassing various sectors such as trade,… culture,… education,… and people-to-people exchanges.

As a foundation for stronger trade cooperation between Indonesia and Iran, the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) has been signed by both countries. Currently, the PTA is in the final process of ratification by both Iran and Indonesia.

Health sector is also one of the cooperation priorities between Indonesia and Iran. Both countries have signed several agreements in the health sector, such as:

a. MoU Pilot Project for Construction of a Robotic Telesurgery Center at four Indonesian General Hospitals

b. MoU Pilot Project on Telemedicine System which has been running in four Provinces in Indonesia

c. In the field of higher education, there are four MoUs on Sister University Collaboration that have been signed between Health Polytechnics in Indonesia and Tehran University of Medical Science (TUMS)

Government-to-government cooperation remains an essential component of our bilateral relationship. We have actively engaged in diplomatic discussions through government and parliamentary officials visits to address various challenges and opportunities based on mutual respect and understanding.

In this regard, I am confident that Indonesia and Iran bilateral relationship will further strengthen for many years to come.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Iranian government and people… for their warm hospitality and support extended to the Indonesian community here in Tehran and in many cities in Iran.

‘Iran, Indonesia hoped to witness a new chapter in deepening ties’

Addressing the same event, Ali-Asghar Mohammadi said: “I hope that during the tenure of the new governments in Iran and Indonesia, we will witness opening a new chapter of expanding and deepening the relationship between the two great countries.”

He also stated:

I’m pleased to say that relations between our two countries have always been marked with friendship, cooperation, respect and mutual understanding.

Our engagement in Indonesia as one of the most influential Islamic countries is beyond bilateral ties, since we both believe in multilateralism in international relations, and I’m honored to state that the two major powers in the South East Asia and West Asia have been successful to achieve their common goals in this regard.

I would like to reiterate that Islamic Republic of Iran is willing to maximize its cooperation with Indonesia in political, economic, trade, energy, scientific and technological, as well as cultural fields at the bilateral level and even more in regional and international levels.

Photo: Indonesian Ambassador to Tehran Ronny Prasetyo Yuliantoro