Everybody felt relieved when the Aviation Security Committee (ASC), during its meeting in Brussels on June 30-July 2, 2009 finally recommended to the European Commission (EC) the positive development of Indonesian aviation safety and recommended lifting the flight ban for four Indonesian airlines: Garuda Indonesia, Mandala, Airfast and PrimeAir, imposed since July 2007 as stipulated in Commission Regulation (EC) No.787/2007.

It needs about 10-12 days for the EC to put the recommendation/opinion of the ASC in its regulation. Why so relieved? Why this ban really matters for the bilateral relations between Indonesia and the EU and how the bilateral relations will shape post-ban lifting?

The flight ban was announced in the middle of the preparations of Indonesia and the EU to embark on a new phase of bilateral relations through finalization of a Comprehensive Partnership (PCA), in which the negotiation of the text itself had started since March 2006. After a 10-round negotiation, both parties finally agreed on the final text on June 12, 2007 and were ready to initial the draft on June 17, 2007. It was very unfortunate that before the date of initialing, the ASC in its meeting on July 6, 2007, decided to impose a flight ban on the Indonesian airlines.

Indonesia's decision to halt the initialing process of the draft PCA was very logical and well-understood. The agreement to have the PCA is like a marriage proposal, to embark on a serious partnership. How can a marriage happen if family of one party is banned to enter other party's territory? Although when the ban was imposed, none of the Indonesian airlines were flying to Europe, the meaning of the ban itself goes beyond that simple economic calculation. It touched the pride of a nation.

Whenever Indonesia and the EU met, the flight ban issue always emerged in the discussion. It was like a pebble in a shoe. It was irritating the relations between the two. Though both Indonesia and the EU tried very hard to maintain good relations, the ban has affected the pace of the bilateral relations. The process of initialing the draft PCS is just an example. Indonesia clearly mentions that as long as the ban remains, there will not be a PCA. The bilateral meetings were also postponed in the last one and half years.

On top of the difficulties in its substance, the communication between Indonesia and the EC, including at technical level, also became sour at the very beginning of the ban. This situation did not help overcome the problem, but rather made it worse. The communication at technical level got better in September 2008. It started when Indonesian delegation and the EC delegation met in Brussels to have the Senior Official Meeting (SOM).

Both delegations agreed to set up a special forum, besides the ASC meeting, to discuss flight ban issues. This special forum is needed to develop trust. Everybody knows that trust is a very important element to bridge differences. It was the first time that two delegations met in a friendly atmosphere. It was also surprising to note that in three hours discussion, both reached a significant development on a number of closed findings.

At the end of the SOM, both agreed on the same data that out of 69 ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)-USOAP (Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program) findings, 33 findings were closed. The September SOM Indonesia-EC signified an important step leading to the better communication of the two and it was also reflected a good example how a joint efforts between diplomacy and technical works together in harmony to solve a problem.

The closing of the 33 findings, out of 69 findings, means that we still have more than halfway to go. Most of them relied on the air transportation legislation, which was finally adopted by the Indonesian Parliament in December 2008. All the processes after September 2008 were at full speed. The latest were, amongst other, done through a teleconference in May 2009 and a field visit by the ASC team to Indonesia mid-June 2009.

The ASC observed the seriousness of the Indonesian regulator (the Transportation Ministry) as well as the operators to improve their performance. Good communication between Jakarta and Brussels also significantly contributed to the progress. All those good improvements finally won the positive opinion and recommendation of the ASC.

However, the good progress of the Indonesian civil aviation should be maintained and continuously improved in the future. It is not only because the lifting will not last forever, as it will be monitored regularly, but most importantly it is for the benefit of all Indonesian airlines passengers.

If everything runs as planned, by mid July 2009, a new EC regulation will be announced to partially annul the flight ban on Indonesian airlines. The pebble is now gone. So what next?

The Senior Officials of Indonesia and the European Commission plan to have a meeting in Yogyakarta mid-July. Though this meeting is a regular annual meeting, this year's meeting becomes unusual since both will again start the process of initialing the draft PCA.

The Comprehensive Partnership somehow is a symbol of maturity of both parties to embark on a new partnership in their efforts to broaden and deepen bilateral cooperation. On the draft, both agreed to prioritize cooperation, among other, on human rights, counterterrorism, good governance, trade, investment, industry, forestry, environment, transportation, health, science and technology, and education.

After initialing the draft, both agreed to expedite the process of signing by the Indonesian Foreign Minister and his counterpart in the EC. By having the Comprehensive Partnership, the relation between Indonesia and the EC would be more predictable and measurable.

On top of the draft PCA, both parties are now on the process of negotiating a draft on Human Rights Dialogue. The principles of the dialogue are basically agreed, among other, to focus more on concrete cooperation to promote and protect human rights of both parties. A finger-pointing- era was over. Both should use new paradigms in approaching the human right issues to reflect the actual situation of each party, and not to use the "old yardstick", which never brought any benefit for either.

What we can expect from post-flight ban lifting is a better and brighter relation between Indonesia and the EU. Focus on trade and investment would be among the priorities. The bilateral trade of the two reached US$18.481 billion in 2008 and showed positive trends from year to year. The same goes for investment. But this figure doesn't reflect the actual potential of both, taking into consideration that the Union consists of 27 countries.

Both should also be able to bridge the implementation gap of the development cooperation. The European Commission provides Euro 480 million for development cooperation to Indonesia from 2007-2013. The challenge of the implementation of development cooperation is its low absorption for the projects. The simplification of application paper work is further needed to make the absorption higher in the future.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the flight ban issue. The ban was a costly experience for the bilateral relations. Let us turn that page and start a new page of bilateral relation. With more trust and respect, both would be able to build a more fruitful cooperation for the future.

The writer is a senior diplomat at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The opinions expressed are personal.

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