Prabowo Subianto scheduled to meet Secretary General

Jakarta (ANTARA) - President-elect Prabowo Subianto is scheduled to meet Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mathias Cormann, to discuss Indonesia's accession to full membership in the organization.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, made the statement after accompanying President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to a meeting with Cormann at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, Tuesday.

"Secretary General Cormann will also meet with the President-elect," he remarked.

The meeting between Cormann and Prabowo, who is currently serving as Minister of Defense, also involved Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Puan Maharani, chairs of the DPR RI, the National OECD Accession Team, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), and the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo), Hartarto noted.

He revealed that Cormann is also scheduled to open a technical workshop regarding the OECD accession process with related ministries and institutions.

During the meeting with Cormann, the president was accompanied by Hartarto; Minister of State Secretary Pratikno; Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to France, Andorra, and Monaco, Mohamad Oemar; Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Indonesia to UNESCO; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pahala Mansury; and Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara.

Currently, Indonesia is included in the OECD accession list as a country in the process of becoming a full member. Since 2007, Indonesia has been a key OECD partner along with Brazil, India, China, and South Africa.

Hartarto remarked that Indonesia's application to become a permanent member country of the OECD had been accepted through the Ministerial Council Meeting to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the OECD Southeast Asia Regional Program (SEARP) in Paris, France, in early May.

Apart from the opportunity to get over the middle-income trap, a full membership in the OECD will allow Indonesia to have a second stage of economic reform through calibration with best practices from other countries.