II.     OPENING SESSION

The training was officially opened at 10:45 am on Monday, 5 November 2007 at the Meeting Room of NAM CSSTC office, on 10^th Floor of NAM Centre Building by Mr. Suprapto Djogoikromo, the Head of Bureau for International Technical Cooperation, State Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Opening Session started with the Welcoming Remark addressed by Ms. Esti Andayani, the Director of NAM CSSTC. She warmly welcomed the participants of the training programme and recorded her appreciation to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the collaboration project. She also introduced the organization of NAM CSSTC, with its historical background, mission, programmes and activities as well as the latest developments. She underlined the importance of enhancing South-South cooperation through wider cooperation with other agencies, such as JICA and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which has concluded a Cooperation Agreement with NAM CSSTC in December 2004. NAM CSSTC has also concluded a number of joint cooperation with other international institutions such as the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), UNCTAD, and UNESCAP. She further mentioned that the training course is also in line with the Indonesian commitment to enhance the partnership among Asian and African nations, and reflection of the spirit of New Strategic Partnership resulted from the Asian African Summit held in Bandung in 2006.

Ms. Dinur Krismasari, the Deputy Director of JICA Indonesia Office, was honoured to deliver her Opening Remark. On this occasion, she elaborated JICA’s policy to promote South-to-South cooperation in which JICA has been providing opportunities through cooperation activities for Indonesian, African, Asian, and Japanese people to get to know each other, work together as partners, and learn more about each other as equal partnership. JICA was convinced that international cooperation based on this kind of mutual understanding between individuals would contribute to peaceful coexistence and solidarity among civil societies. In line with JICA approach in poverty eradication, she stressed that the training programme is an important activity that could contribute directly and indirectly to the development effort of developing countries since microfinance is globally accepted as one of the important and effective tools for poverty alleviation. With regard to the enhancement for cooperation of Asia and Africa, she JICA has been promoting Asia-Africa Cooperation under various frameworks such as Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD) which the fourth conference is planned to be held in 2008.

Finally, Mr. Suprapto Djogoikromo, the Head of Bureau for International Technical Cooperation of the State Secretariat, delivered his Opening Remark. On behalf of the State Secretariat as the National Focal Point for the Third Country Training Program in Indonesia, he reiterated that Indonesia has been implementing Third Country Training Programs since 1981 or three years after the famous Buenos Aires Plan of Action on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) was adopted. The involvement of the Government of Japan through JICA in the implementation of Third Country Training Program also shows their commitment to the South-South cooperation, and since then Indonesia has organized more than 50 Training Programmes. Further, he mentioned that human resources are the most important. It can be a big challenge, yet it can open up big opportunities. It was further emphasized that when we talk about human resources, at least there are three important elements that we should consider: first is the ability, second is motivation and third is dedication. Without having motivation we will not have dedication. Having the ability without motivation, we will not go far. The combined of the three elements will provide us with human resources that have initiative, creativity, innovation, and toughness, which at the end will provide with good results. On this occasion on behalf of the State Secretariat he extended his appreciation to the Director and officials from NAM CSSTC for their strong support and keen interest in this training programme. High appreciation was also addressed to the Government of Japan as well as JICA for their support and contribution to this training programme and in promoting and strengthening South-South Technical Cooperation activities in Indonesia. As requested by the Organizing Committee, he then declared the training course was officially started.