Your Excellency, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, friends and colleagues,

A very warm welcome to you all, here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of the opening of the Linggadjati exhibition.

A special word of welcome to His Excellency, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Umar Hadi who has shown himself to be a great friend of the Netherlands since his arrival in November last year and who has already contributed greatly to the very smooth and increasingly warm relations between our two countries.

A warm word of welcome as well of course to professor Van den Doel, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities in Leiden, professor of contemporary history, and author of several publications on Indonesian history. I’m honoured that you are willling to join us here today professor, and to be one of our speakers.

Last but definitely not least I am proud to see mrs Ter Kulve in our midst. She is one of the initiators of the Linggadjati exhibition and is personally strongly connected with the events in Linggadjati as she actually grew up in the house where the negotiations between the Netherlands and Indonesia took place in November 1946.

Before I give the floor to these distinguished guests allow me to make a few brief introductory remarks.

When Indonesian prime minister Shahrir and the chairman of the Dutch commission-general professor Schermerhorn signed the draft agreement of Linggadjati in November 1946 they had indeed accomplished a remarkable and courageous task. They had looked beyond the difficulties, and ideological positions at the time and managed to find sufficient common ground to reach a historic agreement in which both parties were treated as equals and a new constitutional relationship between the Netherlands and the Republic of Indonesia was agreed upon. Unfortunately things were not supposed to be, as undoubtedly professor Van den Doel will explain to you later.

The courageous diplomatic effort in Linggadjati almost got lost in our collective memory due to the turbulent and violent years that followed. I am therefore most happy and grateful that the Linggadjati Foundation offered us the opportunity to renew our interest and knowledge of Linggadjati through this exhibition. As we are on the verge of further expanding our relationship with Indonesia, it is important to fully understand, to see through,our shared history. And to honour those who committed themselves to reaching a diplomatic settlement in those difficult times. It is in their spirit of trust and cooperation that we build and maintain our relationship with Indonesia today.

Since the historic visit of former minister of  Foreign Affairs Bernard Bot to Indonesia in August 2005, where he attended Indonesia’s independence day – and serving as his private secretary I had the privilege of participating in the celebrations in Jakarta – relations with Indonesia have entered a new and promising stage, and indeed hold enormous possibilities for the future. Our present relationship is multi-faceted, touching on political and economic cooperation, sustainable development, cultural exchanges and – increasingly – climate policy.

Personal relationships and friendship based on mutual feeling of trust and respect are prerequisites to enhanced cooperation. To that end, I would like to take this opportunity to honour former minister dr Wirajuda, who has been one of the main architects of our excellent bilateral relationship today.

Mr Bot and mr Wirajuda, who have become true friends over the years, were the first to stress that it was time and important for our two nations to translate the new momentum into a workable, enhanced mechanism for cooperation. The coming visit of Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the Netherlands, that has just been confirmed by Jakarta, not only reflects the excellent state of our mutual relations but als present a possibility to sign – together with our prime minister - a comprehensive partnership, that will lay the foundation for cooperation in the years ahead.

This is the present but let us now focus again on why we are here today, the Linggadjati exhibition I would therefore like to invite ambassador Habibie (Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, Umar Hadi), to take the floor.

Terima Kasih Banyak