Thank you, Mr. Sorenson.
I am Dr. Bomer Pasaribu.
First of all, on behalf of the members of the Canada-Indonesia Interparliamentary Friendship Group, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the warm welcome to our delegation here. On this visit, I am the chairperson of the Interparliamentary Friendship Group of Indonesia from the Golkar Party. My party was the winner of the last elections, in 2004, but in this past election, last month, my party lost, coming in second. The Democratic Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono now is the winner. Next July there will be a presidential election. The conclusion of the presidential election will be in September.
The membership of the friendship group in Indonesia comprises ten MPs, but only six have come here to Canada. The House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia has 550 members, ten factions, and eleven commissions. It has three main functions, like your Parliament here; namely, the legislative function, the oversight function, and the budgeting function. Apart from the eleven commissions, it has supporting bodies, including the Steering Committee, Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation, the Legislation Council, the Household Committee, the Conduct Council, and the Budget Committee. The Canada-Indonesia Interparliamentary Friendship Group is under the Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation in Indonesia.
As chairperson, it is a pleasure to be here in Canada. We come to this country with the purpose, first, of maintaining close relations between Canada and Indonesia's parliaments. As you might know, the diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Canada formally began on October 9, 1952, 57 years ago, marked by the opening of the representative offices of the respective countries. Second, we are here to exchange information; third, for institutional capacity-building; and fourth, to follow up on the formation of the Canada-Indonesia Interparliamentary Friendship Group.
I would like to take this opportunity as chairperson to deliver our thanks for all of the support given by the Canadian government and the Canadian Parliament to Indonesia, especially for the large amount of attention given to the tsunami disaster in Aceh and North Sumatra, by forming a task force not only at the national level, led by the Prime Minister's deputy, but also at the interdepartmental level, led by Bill Graham, Minister of Defence of Canada at the time.
Second, we thank you for Canada's direct investments in Indonesia, in the mining sector, oil and gas, financial services, the environment, and also in the agrifood sector. Canada has also put its sole mining investment in Asia in Indonesia, in a mining company named PT Inco. PT Inco is located in South Sulawesi, with an investment value of more than $4 billion. According to Canadian statistics, the accumulated value of Canadian direct investment in Indonesia until 2003 was $6 billion, while total Canadian investment in Indonesia until the beginning of 2004 reached more than $7 billion. Besides that, Canadian companies have also engaged thousands of Indonesian people.
Mr. Chairperson, I'd like to introduce my colleagues from the Interparliamentary Friendship Group of Indonesia.
Please introduce yourself, Mr. Tampubolon.
