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EU's green policy a priority for ASEAN
The EU's ambassadors to Indonesia and ASEAN emphasized that the bloc would continue to pursue diplomatic means to establish productive and sustainable cooperation in Southeast Asia.
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Vehicles pass along a road that cuts through an oil palm plantation in Pangkalan Banteng, West Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan, as seen in this aerial photo taken on Nov. 7, 2022. (Antara/Makna Zaeza)
T
he European Green Deal remained among the European Union’s top priorities in both the 27-nation bloc’s 2023 ASEAN and Indonesia strategy, two senior EU diplomats told a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.
While its environmental stance on trade had caused heated rifts with some of the largest ASEAN member states, Brussels would ensure that other areas of cooperation could continue undisturbed, they added.
EU Ambassador to Indonesia Vincent Piket emphasized that finalizing the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Trade Agreement (IEU-CEPA) by the end of the year would be the dominant concern of the bloc’s negotiators. He added that a total of four negotiation rounds had been scheduled for February, May, July and September.
“The economic case [for the IEU-CEPA] remains convincing,” Piket told “At the margins of the G20 [Group of Twenty] Summit in Bali, we agreed to conclude talks by the end of the year,” he said.
Over seven years in the making, the IEU-CEPA is set to count among Indonesia’s largest bilateral trade deals and is expected to advance trade, investment and tourism between the two parties.
But major roadblocks stand in the way, the most profound being the EU’s deforestation-free rule that sought to impose a penalty on any imported products linked to deforestation.
The move was received negatively by Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s two largest palm oil producers, which deemed the policy “discriminative” toward developing countries.
