Indonesia and the European Union will officially sign a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) later this year, the EC delegation to Indonesia has announced.

The two sides’ senior officials convened in Yogyakarta from July 13-14 for their eighth meeting, discussing a number of issues relating to bilateral cooperation.

At the meeting, the two sides completed their three-year negotiation on the PCA, the first bilateral agreement between Indonesia and the EU and the first PCA between the EU and a member country of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The PCA will ensure closer and more regular dialogues to advance cooperation in various fields, including trade, education, research, the environment, energy, tourism and transport.

It will also pave way for dialogues and cooperation on global issues, such as border control, transnational crime, prevention of epidemics, and climate change.

Also at the meeting, the EC announced that EU countries agreed to the Air Safety Committee’s proposal to remove four Indonesian carriers, namely Garuda, Mandala, Premiair and Air Fast, from its aviation blacklist.

In 2007, the EU banned all Indonesian-registered aircraft from flying
over its airspace after a number of aviation accidents in Indonesia that claimed hundreds lives.

The two sides agreed to hold a meeting between the Trade Ministers of Indonesia and EU member countries later this year to deal with remaining problems in trade and investment.

The two sides recognised achievements in financial cooperation, particularly an agreement worth 200 million EUR to assist primary education in Indonesia through 2010.

They stressed the need to continue their cooperation programmes in education and climate change during the 2011-2013 period.

Indonesia and the EU also agreed to closely coordinate efforts at a summit on climate change, scheduled to be held in Copenhagen , Denmark , later this year.