New level: Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa (right) talks with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the European Union presidency, after signing the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in Jakarta on Monday. JP/P.J. Leo
Indonesia and the EU on Monday signed the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) to bolster bilateral relations. The EU said it was “the first of its kind to be signed with an Asian country”.
The pact, signed by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, will serve as the legal framework and guideline for deeper and stronger cooperation between the world’s biggest regional grouping and Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
“It is testimony to the importance we attach to the Indonesia-EU relationship,” Bildt told reporters after the signing.
Previously, EU-Indonesia cooperation was based on the 1980 agreement between the EU and ASEAN.
“We have had a very strong relationship with Indonesia for a very long time. It is only appropriate … that the first PCA that we sign with countries in the wide [Asian] region is specifically with Indonesia,” added Karel Kovanda, the EU’s acting director general of DG external relations at the European Commission.
The Foreign Ministry said the PCA would prioritize cooperation in four areas, namely trade and investment, environment, education and human rights and democracy.
Trade relations between Indonesia and the EU have exceeded 20 billion euros (US$29.8 billion) and are growing at 6 percent per year, the ministry said, highlighting the importance of the EU as Indonesia’s largest destination for its non-oil and gas exports.
The EU said it had begun channeling 15 million euros to Indonesia’s export agencies through its Trade Support Program to boost exports and refine trade policy.
Kovanda said it would also launch the EU-funded Economic Cooperation Facility next year to help Indonesian firms meet export requirements and become more competitive in the global market.
The regional grouping under the new agreement will also provide 200 million euros in support of basic education over the next three years, the largest EU program in Asia and one of its largest educational grants in the world.
The ministers said Indonesia and the EU would use the newly signed agreement to boost cooperation in addressing climate change as rich and poor countries brace for the UN climate meeting in Copenhagen in December.
The signing of the PCA also marked the establishment of a human rights dialogue “with the goal of regularly discussing cooperation and issues of mutual interest related to human rights”, the Foreign Ministry said.
“Not every country shares the concerns of human rights and democracy.
“In this, Indonesia is a leading example and we are delighted about that,” Kovanda said.
Other main areas of cooperation under the PCA include issues ranging from counterterrorism, legal cooperation, intellectual property rights protection, tourism, science and technology and an overhaul of state and public administration.
Marty said the agreement would be effective after it was signed without having to wait for the EU’s 27 member states to ratify it.
“The task for us is now how to implement the PCA and the various thoughts and ideas we have just shared,” he said.
