Air Belanda Indonesia - Netherlands Water Partnership

Foreword
This magazine reflects the strong cooperation between
Indonesia and the Netherlands in the field of water.
Both countries deal with similar challenges and threats,
such as the management of flood prone lowlands, sea level
rise, environmental changes affecting the coast line and
the behavior of our rivers; all of this in the context of an
abundance of water.
On the basis of this common background
Indonesia and the Netherlands have
developed joint approaches and programs
to turn these challenges into opportunities
for our agriculture, industry and the
logistical sector. I am impressed by the
wide range of government organizations,
knowledge institutions, private companies
and NGOs from both our countries that
are working together on projects related
to sanitation, water-quality management,
flood protection and the development of
coastal lowlands.
These projects highlight the Netherlands’
wish to share our water-related
knowledge, expertise and technology.
This magazine elaborates
on the diversity of our
cooperation
Traditionally this sharing has been done
through bilateral development cooperation
projects, but increasingly the focus is
on commercially driven cooperation with
private sector actors. As the private sector
plays an increasingly important role in
finding and applying solutions for key
water management problems related to
urbanization and economic development,
this kind of cooperation is important from
a development and commercial perspective.
Our bilateral development cooperation
program continues at the same time to
contribute to the realization of waterrelated
Millennium Development Goals
and economic development through
irrigation, river basin management and
flood control. Water is one of the focus
areas of our development cooperation
program with Indonesia. Also in this
program the focus is on transfer of
knowledge and expertise by our watersector
institutions and the private sector.
This magazine elaborates on the diversity
of our cooperation on water management.
As Ambassador of the Netherlands I trust
this cooperation will continue to develop
and will constitute a key element in our
good bilateral relationship.
Tjeerd de Zwaan,
Ambassador of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands to the Republic of Indonesia
2 • Air Belanda Indonesia