T

he country is set to give global players greater access to its emerging market, with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo assuring the EU of its readiness to commence negotiations on a lucrative comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) with the world’s strongest economic entity in Berlin on Thursday.

The long-awaited commitment comes following intensive pre-negotiations that began in 2012 to draft shared scooping papers in key areas of cooperation agreed upon during Thursday’s meeting between Jokowi and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.

Negotiations are expected to start in a few days to discuss items agreed to in the papers, including investment, government-to-government goods and service procurement, intellectual property rights, technical barriers for two-way trade and non-tariff barriers and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.

Neither leader revealed how long future negotiations would take before the CEPA would come into force. Jokowi has previously hinted at one or two years. They, however, said that the start of negotiations would mark a major step forward to give broader access to reap benefits from each other.

“Indonesia’s readiness to start negotiations is in line with its commitment to make the Indonesian economy more open and more competitive. A strong EU will benefit all, including Indonesia,” Jokowi, who was accompanied by Juncker, told a joint press conference at the EU headquarters.

Jokowi regretted that prenegotiations for the CEPA took almost four years because the sooner negotiations started, the stronger economic cooperation between the two sides would be.

Jokowi was in Brussels as part of his five-day visit to four western European countries, including Germany and the UK, as well as the Netherlands, where he flew after meeting with Juncker. He also used the forum to encourage the UK to remain in the EU.

“In my meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron earlier, they both gave their support for the start of Indonesia-EU CEPA negotiations. In this context, I hope the UK will continue to be part of the EU,” he said.

Jokowi made the statement after the UK and Indonesia secured on Wednesday an investment deal worth US$19 billion to invest in finance, renewable energy, manufacturing and the aviation sector in Indonesia. The UK exit, if it happens, could potentially impact its investment in Indonesia.

Jokowi said Indonesia also expected the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) agreement to be implemented soon, adding that he and Juncker had also discussed global challenges such as terrorism and radicalism. Indonesia and Belgium were both hit with terrorist attacks recently, with the latter hoping Indonesia would continue its role to promote peaceful Islam to the world.

Juncker said the EU considered Indonesia a key partner that would give benefits to EU members.

“Indonesia is a key global actor and a member of the G20. It is also an important partner when it comes to addressing environmental challenges,” he said.

The deputy director general for bilateral negotiations at the international directorate general of trade negotiations at the Trade Ministry, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, said a CEPA would not only benefit Indonesia in regard to exports and imports but would also increase Indonesia’s capacity in all aspects.