REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - European Union (EU) demands economic cooperation negotiation in Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Indonesia and EU could be started this year, the Operational Director of External Action Service EU, David O'Sullivan, said.

"In our perspective, this is the right time to start negotiating with what we have obtained by the Vision Group and field work that we have done," he said after meeting several Indonesian businessmen.

EU would be ready to start the discussion if Indonesia was ready, the EU Ambassador, Julian Wilson, said. "Now it depends on Indonesian government," Wilson said.

The Chairman of Indonesian Entrepreneur Association (Apindo), Sofjan Wanandi, agrees with O'Sullivan. He expects the negotiation of comprehensive economic partnership between Indonesia and EU could be started this year. 

O'Sullivan predicts the discussion would not take long because of the good preparation. "The trading negotiation usually takes several years. I think we can fast forward with what we already have. We can make a conclusion without starting. So let's start the discussion now," he said.

Should the discussion end up early, both parties could immediately take the advantage of bigger cooperation potency in comprehensive economic partnership agreement. EU hopes the agreement could increase the investment of European companies in Indonesia. Even though EU is the biggest investor in Indonesia after Singapore, the direct market to Indonesia is only 1.4 percent from total investment to Asia. 

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