The Chairman's Opening Statement Jemal-ud-din Kassum, Vice President, East Asia and Pacific Region The World Bank Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen Dear Friends and Colleagues It is my great pleasure to welcome you to this, the tenth Meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia. At the very outset, I would like to extend - on behalf of all of us - our considerable gratitude and thanks to the Government of Japan for organizing this event in Tokyo and for providing such excellent facilities and arrangements for the delegates. I am aware of the work that such conferences entail, and so I would like to underscore my appreciation to all those who have helped in this effort. This is the first CGI meeting that I will be chairing, but I feel no stranger to all of you and to the issues. I have visited Indonesia three times in the last six months - more frequently tm I have any other country in the East Asia region - and have held extensive discussions with a range of people to obtain a firsthand impression of the huge difficulties, and opportunities that confront the country. The first of those visits was with Jim Wolfensohn and in our many meetings - from the President of Indonesia to the urban and rural poor of Java - both Jim and I were struck by the fortitude and determination with which the country is confronting its problems and the profound changes it is going through. On the second of my visits to Indonesia, I chaired a meeting of CGI representatives in Jakarta and was introduced to many of you and to the issues of greatest concern to the international donor community. I was impressed by the excellent spirit of cooperation that exists between the donors, and between the government and the international donor community. I am sure that this spirit of cooperation and understanding will prevail throughout these proceedings as well. To familiarize myself further with Indonesia and the issues facing the country, I visited Indonesia for a third time just last week. Apart from meetings with the President and parliamentarians and senior government officials, I also took time to visit a local government in Semarang and met with communities trying to make a difference in their lives. I am always energized by such visits with people at the cutting edge of development activities, and this time was no exception. I was particularly struck by the power of local ownership at the village, keeamatan, and municipality levels in achieving development results on the ground. And so I come to this meeting with a vivid impression and a better understanding of the complexities of some of the issues that we will be discussing together in the coming two days. The agenda of this meeting was driven by the concerns expressed at the local donor meeting I chaired on June 13 in Jakarta. At that meeting, it became clear that three issues were of paramount interest -- the continuation of structural reforms, the clear articulation of a poverty reduction strategy, and implementation of a comprehensive governance program that covered legal and judicial reforms, decentralization, and forest management. And it is these three issues that are on our agenda for this meeting. Recognizing the breadth of the agenda, the government and the donors held preparatory discussions on virtually all of these issues over the last two weeks. This was an excellent initiative and I would like to congratulate the government and the donors for participating so cooperatively. I am sure these preparatory meetings helped focus some of the issues, crystallized differences of view where they exist, and identified - in the minds of donors and government - where priorities lie. This will be invaluable in focusing the discussions here in Tokyo and allowing us to reach some concrete conclusions on the way forward. A discussion of these issues is also laid out in the brief prepared by World Bank staff entitled "Accelerating Recovery in Uncertain Times". The title of the report is apt - reflecting the critical need to increase the pace of recovery but recognizing the fundamental change the country is experiencing and the enormous uncertainty such change is generating. Such circumstances demand patience as well as persistence on the part of the government and the donor community, because building new institutions takes time. It also demands flexibility - in the design of projects, and in the quantity and mix of financing provided. I would also like to acknowledge others who have prepared documents for these meetings - on selected issues prepared by the IMF staff, on poverty by the Asian Development Bank, on forestry by the EU, and by GTZ on decentralization. To all of them, my sincere thanks. Finally, I would like to say a few words on an issue that hovers over this meeting and has affected Indonesia's relations with the international community - namely the recent incidents in West Timor and their follow up. Coordinating Minister Yudhoyono's presentation to the donor community in Jakarta helped clarify what the government is doing to disarm the militias and apprehend the perpetrators. Further, Foreign Minister Shihab met with the UN Security Council on Thursday, October 12 and the Council accepted Indonesia's invitation to send a mission to Indonesia following its to East Timor in November. These are constructive developments and have helped improve the setting for this consultative group meeting. I know we all look forward to hearing more about the government's plans for its continued efforts to achieve concrete results in this difficult area. May I now call upon His Excellency, Dr. Rizal Ramli, Coordinating Minister for the Economy, to make his opening remarks. Dr. Ramli leads a strong delegation of ministers - a measure of the seriousness with which the Government of Indonesia takes this dialogue with the international community and the interconnectedness of the issues - structural reforms, poverty reduction, and governance - which involve many ministries and agencies. The example of forestry management is illustrative - unless all ministries work together to protect Indonesia's forests, the current pace of illegal logging will continue. We are very grateful the ministers have all taken time from their hectic schedules and urgent work to be with us today. I would also like to note Dr. Ramli's decision to raise the number of civil society observers from two to five. I welcome this and hope this furthers better communication and understanding between donors, government, and civil society. Thank you.