Indonesia-EU Relations: EU's Conservative and Cautious Approach

The Chairman of the EU Delegation for Relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the ASEAN, Dr. Werner Langen, together with nine other members of the European Parliament, were visiting Indonesia from February 21-25, 2011.  A separate meeting on regional integration was also held recently by the EU ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, Julian Wilson, on March 2.  Visits by individual EU Member States' officials since the start of 2011 - including the Swedish Minister of Trade, Ewa Björling, the French Minister of Economic Affairs, Finance, and Industry, Christine Lagarde, and the Spanish State Secretary of Foreign Trade, Alfredo Bonet - also mark the tight relation between RI and the EU.  Yet, this bilateral relation seems be on the "conservative" and "cautious" side that demand shifts of focus and more of regular open public discussion forums between not only EU delegations  and RI officials, but also EU delegations and RI stakeholders.

The Other Side of Asia: Why a Rising Asia May NOT Be a Changed Asia?   

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), along with Indonesian ministries, including the Trade Ministry and the National Development Planning Ministry, held a symposium on "Asia's Development Agenda in Regional and International Fora" on January 18, 2011, and a consultation meeting on "Asia 2050" on January 19, 2011. These themes are timely since Asia still faces development challenges despite its growth miracles while Asia's stake on the global economic recovery is high.

The G20 and APEC: Building Synergies 

Although there are stark differences between the G20 and APEC - the G20 is a global institution to provide global public goods, while APEC is a regional institution operating under the Asia-Pacific context, both of them act based on the same modality, namely cooperative, non-binding and consensus-based tradition.  Both of these institutions are not - and should not be - negotiating forums.  But, most importantly, they need to pull resources.  APEC should work under the bigger umbrella of the G20 framework, while the G20 may learn from APEC's experiences, such as successfully getting member countries committed to strategies on a voluntary basis.