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Jakarta Post

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

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Thu, November 20, 2014

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RI, EU agree to enhance cooperation

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span class="inline inline-center">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.

'€œThe 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 '€œJokowi'€ 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.

'€œThis 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.

'€œIt 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.

'€œPresident 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.

'€œThere 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.

'€œThis 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.

'€œI 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)

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