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Stronger ties as EU-RI celebrate Europe Day
It was German beer and French wine all around as the European Union (EU) business community in Indonesia and a host of distinguished guests celebrated Europe Day at the Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta on Tuesday
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t was German beer and French wine all around as the European Union (EU) business community in Indonesia and a host of distinguished guests celebrated Europe Day at the Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Europe Day marks the anniversary of a speech given by former French foreign minister Robert Schuman in 1950 that led to the formation of the EU.
In his toast, EU ambassador to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and ASEAN, Julian Wilson, said that he felt strongly for the 'extraordinary project' that is the EU.
He thanked the member states who for 63 years had tried to tie themselves closer together, a pact which has made war between them impossible.
'The EU has kept me out of the trenches [...] The EU has also protected my rights and set me and my country and my region's grand targets to be more understanding, to be more just, to be more peaceful,' said Wilson.
He went on to thank the EU for 'making him richer'.
'Our [EU] national economies have emerged and mingled into a huge single market. We produce one-fifth of the world's economic output and account for one-fifth of world trade,' he said.
The tough economic medicine that was currently being prescribed in Europe was fantastically necessary for the EU, said Wilson, referring to austerity measures in some eurozone countries.
'We will emerge, just as the law of the jungle, just as Darwin said some hundreds of years ago, 'leaner, meaner, and stronger' as a result of this scrutiny,' he said.
On Tuesday, the EU launched the 2013 Blue Book annual report on the EU-Indonesia development cooperation, which said that the EU and its member states had provided more than ¤300 million (US$388 million) in development assistance to Indonesia in 2012.
'Even during these hard times, trade and investment flows between the EU and Indonesia saw a growth of about 20 percent,' said Wilson.
The EU ranks as Indonesia's third-largest trading partner and is its largest source of investment.
Bilateral trade between Indonesia and the EU reached ¤25 billion ($32.04 billion) last year, with Indonesia pocketing a surplus of ¤5.7 billion, according to EU statistics.
EU-Indonesia is in negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). At present, the EU has a trade agreement with Singapore and is negotiating similar deals with Malaysia and Vietnam.
ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh said that the future of the ASEAN-EU relationship is very bright, as the organization has a huge cooperation program ahead. 'EU is a major partner in our efforts to prepare for the 2015 ASEAN economic community,' said Minh.
Wilson noted an 'unfortunate' wear of the EU purpose on younger generations, as less and less people experienced the aftertaste of World War II.
'Perhaps the greatest gift produced by the EU made peace in Europe in our time,' said the ambassador. (asw)
