olaf sleijpen : the rise to economic leadership - indonesia's development from the perspective of the dutch central bank speech by mr olaf sleijpen, executive board member of monetary affairs and financial stability of the netherlands bank, at the indonesia - netherlands trade, tourism, and investment forum, amsterdam, 28 may 2024. * * * your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour to speak at the indonesia - netherlands trade, tourism, and investment forum. indonesia is a very important and close partner of the netherlands, so it feels good to meet with you here. terima kasih [ thank you ]. nearly 700 years ago, before modern - style banks existed, people stored their money at home. rather than metal containers, they used common kitchen jars made from a cheap orange - colour clay called'pygg '. whenever families had money left over, they would save their coins in these clay jars, known as'pygg pots.'the first true piggy banks originated in java as far back as the 13th century. they were made of terracotta and shaped like pigs, with a slot on top for depositing coins. few of these piggy banks, known as " celengan " in javanese, survived as they had to be demolished to retrieve the saved coins inside. while the piggy bank represents a simple but ingenious system for individual savings and informal storage, central banks can be thought of as the piggy banks of the entire monetary system. so as the representative of the dutch piggy bank, let me give you my view on the macroeconomic development of indonesia, and its role in the world. i am not the only speaker this morning to mention that indonesia and the netherlands are important trading partners : according to the international trade centre, in 2023 we exported 0. 8 billion euros worth of goods to indonesia, while we imported 5. 1 billion euros worth of goods in that same year. this makes the netherlands the 12th largest import partner of indonesia, and the largest within the eu. we enjoy a strong economic partnership, and the netherlands is keen to further develop economic opportunities for our countries'businesses. besides being key trade partners, indonesia and the netherlands work closely together in other domains as well. during the g20 bali summit two years ago, for example, we co - hosted a conference on payment systems with the bank indonesia institute, as part of a long - lasting cooperation between our central banks

stressing that they themselves have the “ best and brightest ”, taken from high class universities all over the world. yet, the turmoil in financial markets spurs me to occasionally ask a board member of any of these institutions if they do not feel too big to be managed. the general reply is that simply because the “ best and brightest ” are part of the company, there is no further need to enhance the management structure, or even look into additional safeguards. it is these companies that tend to ignore that knowledge needs to be applied sensibly. if anything, it is exactly the current turmoil which stresses not to single - handedly focus on those among us that excel in their financial, theoretical skills, if this implies that we fail to open our eyes to external developments. developments such as risk management, corporate governance and social responsibility, all of which shape the way the financial system works on a day to day basis. “ our blindness with respect to randomness ”, as skilfully narrated by taleb in his black swan, clearly underlines this point. as all of us tend to have limited to no knowledge at all of unexpected events, the proposition “ we know ” is an illusion. science of risk management, for instance, adds knowledge, but does not uncover the full veil of the world and its events, which leaves us with knightian uncertainty. as such, the value of experts can also be questioned, if this implies that experts do not take empirical evidence into account, but base themselves merely on their own, by nature limited, expertise. what a globalized world requires is continuous education, discussion and peer to peer stimulation to keep up with the pace of exactly these unexpected events. fit and proper this emphasis on up - to - date financial knowledge is also reflected in our own focus on fit and proper requirements of financial institutions in the netherlands. starting at the top, knowledge and expertise at a board level is a prerequisite. the bank as supervisor has the task to monitor and uphold these. to ensure the proper discharge of their responsibilities, it is important that board members have the skills to run the company. they should have personal qualities such as honesty, diligence, independent - mindedness and fairness, in order to ensure that the company is run ethically, in compliance with relevant legislation and in a manner that treats its customers fairly. “ propriety ” requires that they are of good repute and integrity. “ fitness ” requires that a person appointed as a director