Europe Day reception: European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs chairman David McAlliister delivers his opening remarks at the Europe Day celebration in Jakarta on May 9.

Words Veeramalla Anjaiah Photos courtesy of the Delegation of the European Union to Indonesia

Citizens of the 28-member European Union living in Indonesia celebrated this year’s Europe Day with joy and two unique exhibitions at Bank Mandiri’s Museum in Jakarta on May 9. The first exhibition was on Islamic art in the collections of European museums and the second exhibition was themed “Our Oceans”.

Europe Day celebrations began with opening remarks from a special guest who came all the way from Europe. He is none other than the chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs David McAllister, a German national. He was on an official visit to Indonesia.

Indonesia, the only G20 member from Southeast Asia, and the European Union have been enjoying cordial relations for many decades, with ties developing rapidly in many fields. McAllister praised Indonesia, the third largest democracy with the fourth largest population in the world.

“The European Union has always praised the leadership of Indonesia as the world’s largest Muslim majority country, a strong democracy and a country with a proud tradition of tolerance and pluralism,” the German parliamentarian said in his opening remarks at the reception.

“Our presence is an illustration that adherence to democracy unites the EU and Indonesia”.

The main objective of the unique partnership between Indonesia and the EU is to achieve prosperity for the people of the 29 countries, he added.

“The EU and Indonesia are building a comprehensive and strategic partnership, it spans from the engagement on protecting our oceans and preserving the planet for future generations, to the negotiation of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which will contribute to the prosperity of our people,” McAllister said.

Indonesia, which signed and implemented the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU in 2014, is negotiating to conclude CEPA with the 28-member grouping to take the existing economic partnership to a higher level.

The chief guest of the celebration was Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, who emphasized the urgent need for the speedy conclusion of the CEPA agreement.

“As Indonesia and Europe are enjoying a peaceful relationship, we have to work together in expediting the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The conclusion of this economic agreement will certainly boost our trade and investment cooperation,” Budi said in his remarks.

According to Budi, there is a need for strengthening both physical and non-physical connectivity in order to reap the benefits from CEPA and maintain the existing good relations between Indonesia and the EU.

“Therefore, cooperation on transportation infrastructure investment and tourism is very important in strengthening connectivity,” the minister said.

He was right as Indonesia, under the able leadership of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, is keen on improving connectivity infrastructure.

Trade between EU member states and Indonesia has been on the rise for many years. Based on data from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade, the EU is the third biggest trading partner of Indonesia after China and Japan, with a total trade of US$31.63 billion in 2017. It was a slight increase from the total trade value of $30 billion in 2016.

Indonesia enjoyed a huge trade surplus of $7.84 billion as it exported $19.7 billion worth of goods to the EU and imported $11.93 billion worth of goods from the 28 member states in 2017.

The European Union’s Ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam Vincent Guerend welcomed the guests, including ASEAN deputy secretary-general Hoang Anh Tuan, a Vietnamese national.

The EU Ambassador to ASEAN Francisco Fantan was also present at the reception.

As Indonesia will hold a legislative election as well as the presidential election next year, what will be the future of relations between the EU and Indonesia?

“It will be very bright,” EU Ambassador Vincent told The Jakarta Post at the reception.

For the guests at the reception, there was a big dilemma: Which drink or dish should they choose from which food stall?

Most of the embassies of the EU showcased their best cuisine and drinks at their food stalls, and fiercely competed to lure the guests to their stalls.

There was a joyful atmosphere on the lawns of the Bank Mandiri Museum. As night fell, many people, including several ambassadors, danced to the music.

But it was not all about the EU’s and Indonesia’s relations. As the world’s richest regional organization, the EU also places a lot of importance to the 10-member ASEAN. After all, the EU is ASEAN’s biggest investor and second largest trading partner.

“Ours is a partnership and it is strategic. We are not just closely economically interlinked with growing people to people exchanges and connectivity between Europe and Southeast Asia, we also defend free and fair trade between us. Our relationship goes beyond and should go further,” McAllister said while referring to EU and ASEAN relations.