Indonesia Urges European Union to Enhance Fair, Equal, and Mutually Beneficial Partnerships

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister, Pahala Nugraha Mansury, engaged in a dialogue with representatives of the Council of the European Union's Working Party on Asia-Oceania (COASI), during COASI's working visit to Indonesia on April 22, 2024. The delegation was accompanied by the EU Ambassador to Indonesia Denis Chaibi, and to ASEAN Sujiro Seam.

According to the release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs obtained on Wednesday, April 24, the Deputy Minister emphasized Indonesia's strategic role and the potential for collaboration with the EU in navigating economic fragmentation and uncertainty. Indonesia is not a proxy of any powers and is open to fostering partnerships based on fair, equal, and mutually beneficial principles, the release wrote.

Since the implementation of the Indonesia – EU Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in 2014, the EU has become Indonesia's 5th largest trading partner, while Indonesia remains the 31st for the EU. The EU's investment in Indonesia, although showing a positive trend, is only about 4.6% of the total foreign direct investment in Indonesia despite competitive market strengths with  Indonesia's population of 277 million and the EU's population of over 448 million.

Pahala Mansury emphasized that the Indonesia-EU partnership "still left much to be desired" both geopolitically and geo-economically. He proposed innovative collaboration to "upgrade" the partnership in the global supply chain through potential cooperation in several sectors. These are sustainability and a green transition, digital economy and hi-technology manufacturing, and the utilization of innovative financing in the Indonesia-EU Investment Attraction Plan covering sectors such as health, transportation and logistics, agriculture, and fisheries.

Both parties need to adopt a constructive approach to address "irritants" for the improvement of partnership quality, including by finalizing the negotiation of the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) and various disputes in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). 

Indonesia and the EU can strengthen multilateral cooperation to address global challenges, such as issues on Palestine, the climate crisis, and multilateral institution reforms. In this regard, Pahala Mansury says Indonesia welcomes the EU's support for Indonesia's accession to the OECD.

Ambassador Denis Chaibi highly appreciated the Deputy Minister's presentation on Indonesia's strategic priorities. The COASI visit is expected to convey Indonesia's important message to the EU among others about the complementarity between the two economies.

COASI delegation consists of representatives from the EU member states in the Council of the EU focusing on issues related to Asia and Oceania, specifically concerning the EU's relations with 41 countries in the region.

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