NOW! Jakarta’s series of Ambassador interviews which started back in 2023 continues into 2025 with another fascinating glimpse into the diplomatic world.
This is where the representatives of the world’s greatest countries operate, coming to Indonesia to bring their expertise and experience to work with their counterparts in both the government and the private sector for the betterment of both countries. In Round Five, we introduce three new ambassadors, all from the northern edges of Europe, but all dedicated to making their country’s relationships with Indonesia as good as possible.
Founder and Publisher Alistair Speirs was delighted to host their Excellencies of Denmark, Ireland and Finland in this latest round. Below after the brief introductions, you will find their answers to three questions posed to each. Please enjoy their heartfelt dedication to working with Indonesia to make life better for both countries.
Introducing the Ambassadors
Sten Frimodt Nielsen (SFN) is the Danish Ambassador to Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea,and ASEAN since October 2023. Before being posted as Danish Ambassador to Indonesia, he was the Judge at the General Court of the European Union from 2007-2023. Prior to that, he held various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, i.e. in New York and Brussels, and the Prime Minister’s Office where he served as Permanent Under-Secretary of State and legal counsel. He holds a law degree from Copenhagen University and has worked extensively with Danish constitutional matters, EU and international law. He is decorated as Knight 1st Class of the Order of the Dannebrog and speaks Danish, English, French, German, and Italian.
Pádraig Francis (PF) has been Ambassador of Ireland to the Republic of Indonesia, Timor Leste and ASEAN since 2021, and before that was Director of Institutions and Coordination, European Union Division, and also in the Economic Coordination Unit, Trade Division and Policy Planning Unit. He served as Deputy Head of Mission, at the Embassy of Ireland, Warsaw. He was a Delegate to COASI, COEST and EFTA Working Group, Permanent Representation of Ireland to the European Union, Brussels, and Second Secretary, Embassy of Ireland, New Delhi. He is married with three children.
Jukka-Pekka Kaihilahti (J-PK) is the Ambassador of Finland to the Republic Indonesia, Timor Leste and ASEAN, Embassy of Finland, Jakarta. Prior to that, he was Acting Director General, the Department for Asia and the Americas, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Special Representative for Afghanistan ASEM Senior Official. He served as Deputy Director General, the Department for Asia and the Americas, Minister counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission, Mission of Finland to NATO and has served in Mexico, Brazil and P.R.C. He speaks Finnish, Swedish, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese and started learning Bahasa Indonesia.
Ambassadors Interview
AGS. What have been the high points in the relationship with Indonesia over the years? Were there any breakthrough moments that stand out?
S.F.N: Official relations between Indonesia and Denmark go back many years, and in fact, in 2025 we will be celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations. A highlight was, of course, the State Visit by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II to Indonesia in 2015. On that occasion we upgraded our bilateral relationship by signing a Joint Declaration on ‘An Innovative Partnership for the 21st Century’. In 2017, on the occasion of the official visit by the Danish Prime Minister, a joint Plan of Action was adopted, setting out objectives and actions for our partnership. This partnership was further strengthened and elaborated upon in a new Plan of Action, covering the period 2021-2024, which sets the direction for our ongoing bilateral cooperation and joint activities on a number of topics and issues, including so-called Strategic Sector Co-operation in areas like energy, environment and food & agriculture between the relevant authorities in Indonesia and Denmark.
P.F: This year has been a significant one for the relations between Ireland and Indonesia as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries. It is also the 10th anniversary of the opening of our Embassy in Jakarta, a demonstration of the increased importance Ireland has attached to Indonesia, which is also shown in the increase in the size of the Embassy team over the last two years. We celebrated these anniversaries with a series of cultural events. I’m also very glad to say that this year the Irish Chamber of Commerce was started and is already very active.
J-PK: The most recent highlight, one I could witness myself, was the visit of our minister of economy, Mr Wille Rydman, to Indonesia in January this year (in Finland we only have 12 ministries and this ministry is really a superministry in the economic and R&D realms). He had several meetings with his Indonesian counterparts. And what’s more important, including most of the areas where we have significant bilateral cooperation with Indonesia. With his visit, we were able to further a lot our joint agenda. In particular, this could be felt in the energy sector where we have had already for years a MoU on cooperation. In the margin of his visit, we organized also a meeting of a joint working group. It was as if the floodgates had opened and it has been easy to give follow-up this. For instance, the second working group meeting was held a month ago and we have several meetings in the pipeline for next year covering several sub-themes in energy sector.
AGS. What are the strongest elements in the relationship with Indonesia today? What are the factors and sectors that you are most concentrating on?
S.F.N: We are committed to strengthening and developing the strategic partnership between Denmark and Indonesia to promote a sustainable and resilient future. At the moment we are working together on a new Plan of Action for the period 2025-2029.
Focus will be on our Strategic Sector Cooperation in the areas of Energy, Food & Agriculture, Environment, Maritime cooperation and the latest sector: Intellectual Property Rights, where there is a great interest from both sides to expand cooperation.
On Energy we are working closely with the Indonesian government on renewable energy production and energy efficiency. Our food & agriculture cooperation focuses on dairy production and food loss & waste, and we are exploring ways to contribute to the government’s free school meal program. Waste management and the circular economy are focus areas for our environmental cooperation.
We would be happy to support and contribute to the Indonesian government’s priority projects – nutritious school meals and green energy transition. We are also ready to assist in the financing of infrastructure projects.
P.F: We aim to increase trade and investment between Ireland and Indonesia for our mutual benefit. People-to-people links are a very important part of this, and we encourage more tourism in both directions, and in particular education links. I am glad to see that growing numbers of Indonesian students study in Ireland every year, where they get not only an excellent education but also make great friends and memories. We are also strengthening our cultural connections, with exhibitions of Irish art, but also new art bringing together Irish mythology and Indonesian batik, and using the Embassy’s official batik.
J-PK: Despite the physical distance between our two countries, we can find many similarities between our countries and common challenges. Just to give you a few examples, we are both forest and forestry giants. Finland is still 75% covered by forests. Our industrialization started with the forestry sector, and it is still today one of the backbones of our economy. Over centuries, we have gained a lot experience, expertise and developed technologies in this field. Additionally, we are both archipelagic countries. Finland has around 55.000 islands, and over 95% of our exports and imports are shipped via sea.
So, it more than natural to have cooperation in areas where there is either a lot complementarity or synergies that bring added value to both sides. Coming from a relatively small country, we Finns don’t have resources to do everything but have to prioritize all the time. Obviously, forestry is one of the priority sectors. And I already mentioned energy. Some of our energy companies have had presence here in Indonesia since 1970’s. Furthermore, the sector has become more and more important due to climate change and clean transition. And Finland is pioneering in this field. Our own aim is to be carbon neutral by 2035.
Whatever we do, ecology and sustainability are key words. Mining is a good example. Finland used to be quite big mining country in the past. Most of our companies have dried up. Nonetheless, our mining companies evolved over time and became mining technology companies instead. Today, they can boast to have state-of-the art technology. For instance, the world’s biggest copper smelter presently under construction by Freeport, close to Gresik, will using Finnish smelting technology.
Finland is also one of the most digitalized countries in the world. We have a whole ecosystem around this. Nokia alone spend some 7-8 billion euros annually in R&D in ICT. In Indonesia, we are currently focusing in telecoms, IoT, smart cities, cyber security and data centers. In the new capital project, we are the knowledge partner of the OIKN. Today, it is not any longer only a question of connecting people but also using digitalization to optimize many things, be that production processes or logistics, in order to make them more efficient and sustainable, and also make citizen’s living environments more livable. Furthermore, it has become more and more important to protect your data.
And last but least comes education. The Finnish system has a good reputation globally, and also in Indonesia. We try to cooperate in this sector on many levels and with multiple stake-holders.
AGS. What about the future, where do you want to take the relationship to next?
S.F.N: I would like to see our bilateral relations intensified – also at political level. Even though we are geographically far apart and very different in size and weight, I believe we have a shared interest in working together to defend and promote a rules-based international order and reduce tension around the world.
Needless to say, I would very much welcome increased trade. I think there is a huge potential. In this respect, concluding a free trade agreement between Indonesia and the EU would benefit both our countries.
Also, I am personally very keen on expanding people-to-people contacts between Indonesia and Denmark. Exchanges of students and athletes, cultural performances are examples of how we can bring people closer together. In the respect, I would like to take this opportunity to compliment the Indonesian Embassy in Copenhagen for the great work they are doing.
P.F: More of the same! Encouraging increased people-to-people links will continue to be an important part of the Embassy’s work, and strengthening the ones that already exist. The Embassy keeps in contact with Indonesians who have studied in Ireland through Alir (Alumni Irlandia), our alumni network, and organises events for them. We will continue to build on our “batik diplomacy”. We also want to do more outside of Jakarta, to make Ireland better known throughout this enormous and diverse country.
J-PK: I have three things in my mind: First, we should to try to broaden the scope of our existing cooperation. Health sector is a good candidate here. But many players in Finland, whether they are companies or R&D institutions are relatively and therefore also often risk-aversive. First and foremost, they need stability, transparency and predictability. In this context, it would help a lot if we one day had a FTA agreement between Indonesia and EU in place, and Indonesia became a member of the OECD.
Secondly, I would like to take our relation to a new level. Despite our technological prowess, Finland has never even dreamed of being able to produce or invent everything on her own. We need partners. And we them in the fields of science and R&D. I look forward to the day we can launch genuine joint projects in this field.
Thirdly, we share many values and already cooperate a lot on multilateral fora. And we both have a stake in upholding the rules-based international system. I believe strongly that we should step our cooperation also in this context.
A huge thanks to these very busy ambassadors for giving NOW! Jakarta their time and insights and we wish them the very best of success in achieving the goals and ambitions they have so kindly explained to us.
For the curated video version of the Round Table, click here.
