JAKARTA, Dec 15 — Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said the European Union (EU) should treat Asean member countries equally if they want to fully enjoy the fruit of a better partnership.
He acknowledged the two blocs had gone through many challenges and attained many good outcomes, but the partnership was not all smooth sailing.
“The partnership should be based on equality. There should be no imposition of views, there should be no one dictating to the other and thinking that their standard is better than the other,” Widodo said.
Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, said this on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of the EU-Asean Commemorative Summit that marks 45 years of diplomatic relations in Brussels.
In recent decades, Southeast Asia has become the economic powerhouse and the epicentre of growth, Jokowi said, adding that EU partnerships with Asean are beneficial.
He pointed out that the EU-Asean Business Council’s business sentiment survey in September showed 63 per cent of respondents see Asean as the region with the best economic opportunity.
About 69 per cent of respondents expect Asean markets to become more important in terms of worldwide revenues over the next two years and 97 per cent of respondents would like the EU to accelerate FTA negotiations with Asean and its members.
Therefore, Jokowi stated the EU-Asean partnership must advance and progress equally to shape a better future together.
“From the pandemic and the multidimensional crisis we are facing, we have learned an important lesson that growing and prospering together is the only option,” he said.
Jokowi took over the chairmanship of Asean from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen last month in Phnom Penh and leads as the Chair in 2023 with the theme “Asean Matters: Epicentrum of Growth”.
— Bernama
