The economic cooperation between Indonesia and the United Kingdom appears to be progressing steadily, as evidenced by a recent meeting between Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, and the UK's Minister for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan. During the meeting, both officials discussed efforts to enhance economic cooperation between the two nations, as well as current geopolitical issues such as Indonesia's accession process to become a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) during the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference (MC13). Minister Airlangga expressed appreciation for the UK government's support towards Indonesia's OECD accession process, following OECD's official decision to initiate discussions with Indonesia recently. Furthermore, Minister Trevelyan shared the UK's experience as the 12th member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last year. She mentioned that it took about two years from the application process to officially becoming a CPTPP member and expressed the UK government's readiness to support Indonesia in joining the CPTPP.
Minister Airlangga viewed Indonesia's participation in the CPTPP as a significant step forward towards a more integrated regulatory system. He also highlighted the potential benefits for Indonesia in terms of trade, investment, and technical cooperation with other regional partner countries. Additionally, Indonesia and the UK have jointly chaired the Forest, Agriculture Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue, a platform involving governments of major agricultural commodity-producing and consuming countries. As Indonesia's term as co-chair of the FACT Dialogue will conclude in March 2024, the UK, as the co-chair, has been invited to the FACT Forum 2024 scheduled for March 6-8, 2024, in Bali. Minister Airlangga also shared Indonesia's experiences in digitalization in education through the implementation of the Kartu Prakerja program and in healthcare through the PeduliLindungi application during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the meeting addressed various other areas of cooperation including healthcare and pharmaceutical products, sustainable palm oil development in agriculture, and maritime and fisheries sectors.
