Parliament supports Indonesia's OECD accession

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The House of Representatives (DPR) supports the process of Indonesia’s accession to become a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Deputy Speaker of DPR Lodewijk, here on Wednesday, lauded the OECD for having carried out the accession discussion in only seven months as compared to other accession countries that needed a year.

According to Lodewijk, this is recorded as a historical achievement.


"The implementation of the accession roadmap is not business as usual, so we hope that the political process involving the parliament will run smoothly with the support of the majority of the government coalition in the upcoming parliament," he remarked.

Lodewijk said he understood the government's keenness to be an OECD member within three years.

For that, the DPR urged the OECD to continue to support public understanding of membership and help accelerate the accession process.

He emphasized that the OECD is important in building strong coordination, as the accession process is very complex.

Meanwhile, in his visit to the Parliament Building on Tuesday (May 28), OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann said he will continue to encourage the accession process, as Indonesia is indeed worthy of being a member.

Indonesia has been an OECD key partner since 2007, and significant progress has been made by Indonesia, including its leadership in the G20 and ASEAN.

In 2014, Indonesia established the South East Asia Programme (SEARP) with Japan, which became an important OECD program to open economic access to the ASEAN region.

Hence, the legislative process is required and will determine the speed of the Indonesian accession process.

Secretary General Cormann also welcomed DPR’s support in the process of reviewing regulations according to OECD standards.

He also expressed his commitment to continuing talks with the DPR.