EU NEEDS GOOD COOPERATION WITH MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES LIKE INDONESIA

         Jakarta, 3 Muharram 1435/7 November 2013 (MINA) – The former director of European Union Institute for Security Studies, Alvaro de Vasconcelos said European Union really needs good cooperation with middle income countries (MICs) like Indonesia.

       “Indonesia is a good model of democratic country. The role of Indonesia is really needed in solving Middle East crisis, like Syrian conflict and Egyptian crisis. European countries who joined in EU also need good cooperation with middle income countries like Indonesia,” said Alvaro.

       Alvaro mentioned the middle income countries are like Indonesia, Turkey, Brazilia, and the others who have important role of their foreign policies. He delivered his speech in a seminar themed “Global Governance: The Challenge of Inclusive Multilateralism” Jakarta, Thursday.

       The big countries like China, US, Germany, and the others can not work alone. They are nothing without cooperation with middle income countries. So, we can work together in creating peace and developing democratization in the world.

       Commenting the Arabs crisis, Alvaro argued that Arabs countries need support from international community. “Syria which is now facing human tragedy, more than five million of their people are displaced. Egypt that needs financial support for their government, they are really need our support,” he added.

        Cooperation between Indonesia and the European Union (EU) date back to the 1970s. Much of their cooperation takes place through Indonesia’s membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

        Cooperation began in the 1970s and was formalized in the 1980 EC-ASEAN Agreement. The EU opened a delegation in Indonesia in 1988. Dialogue was relaunched in 2000 and political dialogue is now undertaken through annual ministerial meetings and regular senior officials meetings.

        After negotiations on a free trade agreement with ASEAN got increasingly difficult, the EU began pursuing negotiations with individual ASEAN states. The EU is now attempting to pursue a free trade deal with Indonesia. A specific EU-Indonesia Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA) was signed in 2009 to improve co-operation in a wide range of fields, including trade, environment, energy, education, science and technology. The EU also has a range of other development programmes in Indonesia.

          However, ASEAN as a whole is the EU’s third largest trading partner. The EU is Indonesia’s fourth largest trading partner (more than 10 percent of its external trade) . (L/P04/P02/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)