TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
RI, EU agree to enhance cooperation
Side by side: President Joko Widodo (right) walks with European Council President Herman van Rompuy after their bilateral meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
S
span class="caption">Side by side: President Joko Widodo (right) walks with European Council President Herman van Rompuy after their bilateral meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday. Van Rompuy met the new Indonesian leader to discuss economic ties. Presidential Palace/Cahyo Bruri Sasmito
Indonesia and the European Union (EU) have agreed to continue broadening and deepening partnerships between the two countries, as there are a number of areas where cooperation can be further enhanced, a European Council top envoy has said.
European Council President Herman van Rompuy said the EU and Indonesia had agreed that many important opportunities lay ahead.
'The arrival of new leaders in Indonesia and the EU will provide additional dynamism in a period marked by increased international challenges and awareness of interdependence,' he said on Wednesday.
Van Rompuy made the statement following his meeting with President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo in Jakarta today.
He said the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which took effect on May 1, provided a broader institutional framework for the development of a relationship that was already long and deep.
'This is the first agreement of its kind between the EU and an ASEAN partner. It confirms and deepens our shared commitment for democratic principles and human rights,' the European Council president said.
'It will also enable further cooperation in a wide range of areas, such as infrastructure, food security and sustainable forestry management.'
Indonesia and the EU agreed on a voluntary partnership to tackle the problem of illegal logging and to improve market opportunities for Indonesian timber.
'President Widodo and I have also reviewed our economic ties. The EU is the world's biggest economy and the number-one market for Indonesian exports in goods,' said Van Rompuy.
The EU is Indonesia's third-largest trading partner and the second-largest foreign investor.
'There is vast untapped potential, however. The EU looks forward to engaging with the new Indonesian government in negotiations on an ambitious Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement,' said Van Rompuy.
'This would give a boost to bilateral trade and investment and create prosperity and jobs in both Indonesia and the EU.'
Van Rompuy said a recent and ambitious legally binding commitment ' reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent of their 1990 levels by 2030 ' by the EU would establish a new international benchmark.
'I hope that Indonesia will assume a leadership role in this vital matter and submit timely and ambitious commitments. Our cooperation should extend to negotiations on new sustainable development goals in order to continue reducing poverty, as well as the many inequalities that still persist between and within nations.' (ebf)
